2023 New York Laws › TAX - Tax › Article 20-B - Excise Tax on Medical Cannabis › 491 - Returns to Be Secret.

* §  491.  Returns  to  be secret. 1. 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 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 return or report filed pursuant to this article to divulge
or make known in any  manner  the  contents  or  any  other  information
relating  to  the  business  of  a  distributor,  owner  or other person
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 proceeding in any court, except on behalf of the
state, office of cannabis management, or the commissioner in  an  action
or  proceeding  under the provisions of this chapter or on behalf of the
state or the commissioner in any other action  or  proceeding  involving
the collection of a 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 relating  to
the  regulation or taxation of medical cannabis on behalf of officers to
whom information shall have been supplied as provided in subdivision two
of 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  a
registered  organization  or  other  person  under  this article; nor to
prohibit the delivery to a registered organization, or a duly authorized
representative of such registered organization, a certified copy of  any
return  or report filed by such registered organization 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 the registered organizations
making sales of, or  manufacturing,  medical  cannabis  in  a  specified
county,  whether  the  number of such registered organizations 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  an  allocation,
following appropriation by the legislature, pursuant to this article and
section  eighty-nine-h  of  the  state  finance  law,  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
such representative with information concerning an item contained in any
such  return,  or  disclosed by any investigation of tax liability under
this article.
2. The commissioner, in his or her discretion  and  pursuant  to  such
rules and regulations as he or she may adopt, may permit the appropriate
officers  of  any other state which regulates or taxes medical cannabis,
or the duly authorized representatives  of  such  officers,  to  inspect
returns or reports made pursuant to this article, or may furnish to such
other  officers,  or 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
registered  organization  making  returns  or  reports  hereunder.   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  appropriate  officers  of  any
other  state  which  regulates  or  taxes  medical cannabis, or the duly
authorized representatives of any of 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.
3. (a) Any officer or employee of the state who willfully violates the
provisions of subdivision one or two 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.
* NB Repealed July 5, 2028