2023 New York Laws › TAX - Tax › Article 20-C - Tax on Adult-Use Cannabis Products › 496-A - Returns to Be Secret.

§  496-a.  Returns  to be secret. (a) Except in accordance with proper
judicial order or as in this section or otherwise provided  by  law,  it
shall  be  unlawful for the commissioner, any officer or employee of the
department, or any officer or person who, pursuant to this  section,  is
permitted to inspect any return or report or to whom a copy, an abstract
or  a  portion  of  any  return  or  report is furnished, or to whom any
information contained in any return  or  report  is  furnished,  or  any
person  who  in  any  manner  may acquire knowledge of the contents of a
return or report filed pursuant to this article to divulge or make known
in any manner the content or any  other  information  contained  in  any
return  or report required under this article. The officers charged with
the custody of such returns or reports shall not be required to  produce
any  of  them or evidence of anything contained in them in any action or
preceding in any court, except on behalf of the  state,  the  office  of
cannabis  management,  or  the  commissioner  in an action or proceeding
involving the collection of tax due under  this  chapter  to  which  the
state  or  the commissioner is a party or a claimant or on behalf of any
party to any action or proceeding under the provisions of this  article,
when  the returns or the reports or the facts shown thereby are directly
involved in such action or proceeding, or in  an  action  or  proceeding
related  to the regulation or taxation of adult-use cannabis products on
behalf of officers to whom  information  shall  have  been  supplied  as
provided  in  this section, in any of which events the court may require
the production of, and may admit in evidence so much of said returns  or
reports  or of the facts shown thereby as are pertinent to the action or
proceeding and no more. Nothing herein shall be  construed  to  prohibit
the commissioner, in his or her discretion, from allowing the inspection
or delivery of a certified copy of any return or report filed under this
article  or of any information contained in any such return or report by
or to a duly authorized officer or employee of the  office  of  cannabis
management;   or   by   or  to  the  attorney  general  or  other  legal
representatives of the state when an action shall have been  recommended
or  commenced  pursuant to this chapter in which such returns or reports
or the facts shown thereby are directly involved; or the  inspection  of
the returns or reports required under this article by the comptroller or
duly designated officer or employee of the state department of audit and
control,  for  purposes  of the audit of a refund of any tax paid by any
person under this article; nor to prohibit the delivery to  such  person
or  a duly authorized representative of such person, a certified copy of
any return or report filed by such person pursuant to this article,  nor
to  prohibit  the  publication of statistics so classified as to prevent
the identification of  particular  returns  or  reports  and  the  items
thereof.  This  section  shall  also  not  be  construed to prohibit the
disclosure, for tax administration purposes,  to  the  division  of  the
budget   and  the  office  of  the  state  comptroller,  of  information
aggregated from the returns filed by all persons subject  to  the  taxes
imposed  by  the  article,  whether the number of such persons is one or
more. Provided further that,  notwithstanding  the  provisions  of  this
subdivision,  the commissioner may, in his or her discretion, permit the
proper officer of any county entitled to receive any distribution of the
monies received on account of the tax  imposed  by  subdivision  (c)  of
section  four  hundred  ninety-three  of this article, or the authorized
representative of such officer, to inspect any return filed  under  this
article,  or  may  furnish  to  such officer or the officer's authorized
representative an abstract of any such return or supply such officer  or
representative with information concerning an item contained in any such
return,  or  disclosed  by any investigation of tax liability under this
article.
(b) The commissioner,  in  his  or  her  discretion,  may  permit  the
appropriate officers of any other state that regulates or taxes cannabis
or  the duly authorized representatives of any such officers, to inspect
returns or reports made pursuant to this article, or may furnish to such
other  officers, or their duly authorized representatives, a copy of any
such return  or  report  or  an  abstract  of  the  information  therein
contained,  or  any  portion thereof, or may supply any such officers or
such representatives with information relating  to  the  business  of  a
person  making  returns  or reports hereunder solely for purposes of tax
administration.  The  commissioner  may  refuse  to  supply  information
pursuant  to  this subdivision to the officers of any other state if the
statutes of  the  state  represented  by  such  officers  do  not  grant
substantially  similar  privileges to the commissioner, but such refusal
shall not be  mandatory.  Information  shall  not  be  supplied  to  the
officers  of  any  state that regulates or taxes cannabis, or their duly
authorized representatives of any such officers, unless such officer  or
other  representatives  shall  agree not to divulge or make known in any
manner the information so supplied, but such officers may transmit  such
information  to their employees or legal representatives when necessary,
who in turn shall be subject to the same restrictions  as  those  hereby
imposed upon such officer or other representatives.
(c)(1) Any officer or employee of the state who willfully violates the
provisions  of subdivision (a) or (b) of this section shall be dismissed
from office and be incapable of holding any public office in this  state
for a period of five years thereafter.
(2) For criminal penalties, see article thirty-seven of this chapter.