Section 145 - General powers of director of finance(a) General.-The director of finance shall administer and enforce the tax imposed by this title and he is authorized to make such rules and regulations, and to require such facts and information to be reported, as he may deem necessary to enforce the provisions of this title; and he may delegate his powers and functions under all parts of this title to one of his deputies or to any employee or employees of his department.(b) Examination of books and witnesses.-The director of finance for the purpose of ascertaining the correctness of any return, or for the purpose of making an estimate of taxable income of any person, shall have power to examine or to cause to have examined, by any agent or representative designated by him for that purpose, any books, papers, records or memoranda bearing upon the matters required to be included in the return, and may require the attendance of the person rendering the return or any officer or employee of such person, or the attendance of any other person having knowledge in the premises, and may take testimony and require proof material for his information, with power to administer oaths to such person or persons.(c) Abatement authority.-The director of finance, of his own motion, may abate any small unpaid balance of an assessment of tax under this part, or any liability in respect thereof, if the director of finance determines under uniform rules prescribed by him that the administration and collection costs involved would not warrant collection of the amount due. He may also abate, of his own motion, the unpaid portion of the assessment of any tax or any liability in respect thereof, which is excessive in amount, or is assessed after the expiration of the period of limitation properly applicable thereto, or is erroneously or illegally assessed. No claim for abatement under this subdivision shall be filed by a taxpayer.(d) Special refund authority.-Where no questions of fact or law are involved and it appears from the records of the director of finance that any moneys have been erroneously or illegally collected from any taxpayer or other person, or paid by such taxpayer or other person under a mistake of facts, pursuant to the provisions of this title, the director of finance at any time, without regard to any period of limitations, shall have the power, upon making a record of his reasons therefor in writing, to cause such moneys so paid and being erroneously and illegally held to be refunded.(e) Cooperation with the United States, this state and other states.-Notwithstanding the provisions of section one hundred forty-six, the director of finance may permit the secretary of the treasury of the United States or his delegates, or the proper officer of this or any other state imposing an income tax upon the incomes of individuals, or the authorized representative of any such officer, to inspect any return filed under this title or may furnish to such officer or his authorized representative an abstract of any such return or supply him with information concerning an item contained in any such return, or disclosed by any investigation of tax liability under this title, 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 state, as the case may be, grant substantially similar privileges to the director of finance and such information is to be used for tax purposes only; and provided further the director of finance may furnish to the secretary of the treasury of the United States or his delegates or to the tax commission of the state of New York or its delegates such returns filed under this title and other tax information, as he may consider proper, for use in court actions or proceedings under the internal revenue code or the tax law of the state of New York, whether civil or criminal, where a written request therefor has been made to the director of finance by the secretary of the treasury or by such tax commission or by their delegates, provided the laws of the United States or the laws of the state of New York grant substantially similar powers to the secretary of the treasury or his delegates or to such tax commission or its delegates. Where the director of finance has so authorized use of returns or other information in such actions or proceedings, officers and employees of the department of finance may testify in such actions or proceedings in respect to such returns or other information.(f) Authority to set interest rates.-The commissioner of finance, by regulation, may set the rate of interest to be paid pursuant to sections one hundred thirty-two, one hundred thirty-three and one hundred thirty-six. Such rate shall be the same for each such section and shall be not less than six percent per annum nor more than the rate of interest prescribed by the banking board pursuant to section fourteen-a of the banking law, but if the commissioner of finance has not set such rate, interest at six percent per annum shall apply. Any rate set by the commissioner of finance shall go into effect not less than sixty days after the regulation is promulgated, and shall apply only to taxes due or paid for taxable years commencing after the effective date of such regulation.(g) In computing the amount of any interest required to be paid under this title by the commissioner of finance or by the taxpayer, or any other amount determined by reference to such amount of interest, such interest and such amount shall be compounded daily. The preceding sentence shall not apply for purposes of computing the amount of any addition to tax for failure to pay estimated tax under subdivision (c) of section one hundred thirty-three.(h) Fractional parts of a dollar. - The commissioner of finance may provide by regulation (1) that in any determination, assessment, collection, refund or credit under this title, a fractional part of a dollar may be disregarded unless it amounts to fifty cents or more, in which case it shall be increased to one dollar, and (2) that any person making a return, report or other statement required to be filed under this title, may elect with respect to any amount required to be shown thereon, if such amount is other than a whole dollar amount, either to disregard the fractional part of a dollar or to disregard the fractional part of a dollar unless it amounts to fifty cents or more, in which case the amount (determined without regard to the fractional part of a dollar) shall be increased by one dollar; provided, however, that such election shall not be applicable to items which must be taken into account in making the computations necessary to determine the amount required to be shown on any such return, report or other statement but shall be applicable only to the final amount required to be shown thereon.N.Y. General City Model Law § 145