2023 New York Laws › TAX - Tax › Article 9 - Corporation Tax › 202 - Secrecy Required of Officials; Penalty for Violation.

§ 202. Secrecy required of officials; penalty for violation. 1. Except
in  accordance  with  proper  judicial order or as otherwise provided by
law, it shall be unlawful for  any  tax  commissioner,  any  officer  or
employee  of  the department of taxation and finance, or any person who,
pursuant to this section, is permitted to inspect any report, or to whom
any information contained in any report  is  furnished,  or  any  person
engaged or retained by such department on an independent contract basis,
or any person who in any manner may acquire knowledge of the contents of
a report filed pursuant to this article, to divulge or make known in any
manner the amount of income or any particulars set forth or disclosed in
any  report under this article. The officers charged with the custody of
such reports shall not be required to produce any of them or evidence of
anything contained in them in any action or  proceeding  in  any  court,
except  on  behalf  of  the  state  or  the commissioner of taxation and
finance in an action or proceeding under the provisions of this  chapter
or  in  any other action or proceeding involving the collection of a tax
due under this chapter  to  which  the  state  or  the  commissioner  of
taxation and finance 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 reports or facts shown thereby are directly involved in such  action
or  proceeding,  in  any  of  which  events  the  court  may require the
production of, and may admit in evidence, so much of said reports or  of
the  facts  shown  thereby, as are pertinent to the action or proceeding
and no more. The commissioner of taxation and finance may, nevertheless,
publish a copy or a summary of any determination  or  decision  rendered
after   the   formal  hearing  provided  for  in  section  one  thousand
eighty-nine of this  chapter.  Nothing  herein  shall  be  construed  to
prohibit   the   delivery  to  a  corporation  or  its  duly  authorized
representative of a copy of any report filed by it, nor to prohibit  the
publication of statistics so classified as to prevent the identification
of  particular  reports  and  the  items  thereof, or the publication of
delinquent lists showing the names of taxpayers who have failed  to  pay
their  taxes  at  the  time  and  in  the manner provided by section one
hundred ninety-seven together with any relevant information which in the
opinion of the commissioner of taxation and finance may  assist  in  the
collection   of   such  delinquent  taxes;  or  the  inspection  by  the
attorney-general or other legal representatives  of  the  state  of  the
report  of  any  corporation  which  shall  bring action to set aside or
review the tax based thereon, or against whom an  action  or  proceeding
under  this chapter has been recommended by the commissioner of taxation
and finance or the attorney-general  or  has  been  instituted;  or  the
inspection  of the reports of any corporation 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 such
corporation under this article; or the disclosing  to  a  state  agency,
pursuant  to  section  one hundred seventy-one-f of this chapter, of the
name  and  taxpayer  identification  number  of   any   taxpayer   whose
overpayment  is  certified  to  the comptroller to be credited against a
past-due legally enforceable debt owed to  such  state  agency  and  the
amount  of  the  overpayment  and  interest  thereon  certified  to  the
comptroller to be credited against a past-due legally enforceable  debt;
or  the  disclosing  to  the  commissioner of finance of the city of New
York, pursuant to section one hundred seventy-one-l of this chapter,  of
the  name  and  taxpayer  identification  number  of  any taxpayer whose
overpayment is certified to the comptroller to  be  credited  against  a
city  of  New York tax warrant judgment debt. Provided, further, nothing
herein shall be construed to prohibit the disclosure  of  the  names  of
corporations  subject to tax under section one hundred eighty-two or one

hundred eighty-two-a of this article, or to  any  two  or  all  of  such
taxes,  for  purposes  of  assisting corporations subject to such tax or
taxes in determining whether a gross receipt or  a  gross  receipt  from
sales  of  petroleum  is an excludible gross receipt or excludible gross
receipt from sales of petroleum because it is derived from  a  sale  for
resale.
2. (a) Any officer or employee of the state who willfully violates the
provisions  of  subdivision  one 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.
(b) Cross-reference: For criminal penalties, see article  thirty-seven
of this chapter.
3.  Notwithstanding any provisions of this section, the tax commission
may permit the secretary of the treasury of the  United  States  or  his
delegates,  or  the  proper  officer of any other state charged with tax
administration, or the authorized representative of either such officer,
to inspect the reports filed under this article, or may furnish to  such
officer  or his authorized representative an abstract of any such report
or supply information concerning an item contained in any  such  report,
or  disclosed  by  an investigation of tax liability under this article,
but such permission shall be granted or such  information  furnished  to
such officer or his representative only if the laws of the United States
or  of such other state, as the case may be, grant substantially similar
privileges to the commission or officer of this state charged  with  the
administration  of  the tax imposed by this article and such information
is  to  be  used  for  tax  purposes  only;  and  provided  further  the
commissioner of taxation and finance may furnish to the secretary of the
treasury  of the United States or his delegates such reports filed under
this article and other tax information, as he may consider  proper,  for
use  in  court  actions  or proceedings under the internal revenue code,
whether civil or criminal, where a written  request  therefor  has  been
made to the commissioner of taxation and finance by the secretary of the
treasury  or  his delegates provided the laws of the United States grant
substantially similar powers to the secretary of  the  treasury  or  his
delegates.  Where  the  commissioner  of  taxation  and  finance  has so
authorized use of reports or other tax information in  such  actions  or
proceedings,  officers  and  employees of the department of taxation and
finance may testify in such actions or proceedings in  respect  to  such
reports or other tax information.
4.  Notwithstanding any provisions of this section, the tax commission
may furnish any municipality with  such  information  contained  in  the
franchise tax reports filed under this article as it may consider proper
for  use  in any certiorari or condemnation proceedings, and may furnish
any authorized officer  or  employee  of  the  department  of  financial
services  of the state of New York with any information contained in the
franchise tax reports of corporations liable to pay a tax under  section
one  hundred  eighty-seven of this chapter, provided such information is
to be used for tax purposes only.
5. Notwithstanding the provisions of subdivision one of this  section,
the  tax commission, in its discretion, may require or permit any or all
persons liable for any fee or tax  imposed  by  this  article,  to  make
payment  of any fee, tax, penalty or interest imposed by this article to
banks,  banking  houses  or  trust  companies  designated  by  the   tax
commission  and to file reports with such banks, banking houses or trust
companies as agents of the tax commission, in lieu of  making  any  such
payment  directly  to  the  tax  commission. However, the tax commission
shall designate only such banks, banking houses or  trust  companies  as

are  or  shall be designated by the comptroller as depositories pursuant
to section two hundred six.
6.  (a)  Notwithstanding  the  provisions  of  subdivision one of this
section, upon written request from the chairperson of the  committee  on
ways  and  means  of  the  United  States  House of Representatives, the
chairperson of the committee on finance of the United States Senate,  or
the  chairperson of the joint committee on taxation of the United States
Congress, the commissioner shall furnish such committee with any current
or prior year reports specified in such request that  were  filed  under
this  article  by  the president of the United States, vice-president of
the United States, member of the United States Congress representing New
York state, or any person who served in or was employed by the executive
branch of the government of the United States on the executive staff  of
the president, in the executive office of the president, or in an acting
or  confirmed  capacity  in  a  position  subject to confirmation by the
United States senate;  or,  in  New  York  state:  a  statewide  elected
official,  as  defined  in  paragraph  (a) of subdivision one of section
seventy-three-a of the public officers law; a state officer or employee,
as defined in subparagraph (i) of paragraph (c) of  subdivision  one  of
such  section seventy-three-a; a political party chairperson, as defined
in paragraph (h) of subdivision one of such section  seventy-three-a;  a
local  elected  official,  as  defined  in  subdivisions  one and two of
section eight hundred  ten  of  the  general  municipal  law;  a  person
appointed,  pursuant to law, to serve due to vacancy or otherwise in the
position of a local elected official, as defined in subdivisions one and
two of section eight hundred ten of the general municipal law; a  member
of  the  state  legislature;  or a judge or justice of the unified court
system; or filed  by  a  partnership,  firm,  association,  corporation,
joint-stock  company,  trust  or  similar  entity directly or indirectly
controlled by any  individual  listed  in  this  paragraph,  whether  by
contract,  through  ownership  or control of a majority interest in such
entity, or otherwise, or filed  by  a  partnership,  firm,  association,
corporation,  joint-stock  company, trust or similar entity of which any
individual listed in this paragraph holds ten percent  or  more  of  the
voting  securities  of  such  entity;  provided  however  that, prior to
furnishing any report, the commissioner  shall  redact  any  copy  of  a
federal return (or portion thereof) attached to, or any information on a
federal  return  that  is  reflected  on,  such  report,  and any social
security numbers, account numbers and residential address information.
(b) No reports shall be furnished pursuant to this subdivision  unless
the  chairperson  of  the requesting committee certifies in writing that
such reports have been requested related to, and in  furtherance  of,  a
legitimate  task of the Congress, that the requesting committee has made
a written request to the United States secretary  of  the  treasury  for
related  federal  reports  or  report information, pursuant to 26 U.S.C.
Section 6103(f), and that if such requested  reports  are  inspected  by
and/or  submitted  to  another  committee, to the United States House of
Representatives, or to the United States Senate,  then  such  inspection
and/or  submission  shall  occur in a manner consistent with the federal
law as informed by requirements and procedures established in 26  U.S.C.
Section 6103(f).