Section 1418 - Returns to be secret(a) Except in accordance with proper judicial order or as otherwise provided by law, it shall be unlawful for the tax appeals tribunal, the commissioner of taxation and finance, any officer or employee of the department of taxation and finance, any person engaged or retained by such department on an independent contract basis, or any person who, pursuant to this section, is permitted to inspect any return or to whom a copy, an abstract or a portion of any return is furnished, or to whom any information contained in any return is furnished, to divulge or make known in any manner the particulars set forth or disclosed in any return required under this article. Provided, however, that nothing in this section shall prohibit a recording officer from making a notation, or affixing stamps, on an instrument effecting a conveyance indicating the amount of tax paid. No recorded instrument effecting a conveyance shall be considered a return for purposes of this section.(b) The officers charged with the custody of such returns 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 commissioner of taxation and finance in any 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 returns 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 returns or of the facts shown thereby, as are pertinent to the action or proceeding and no more.(c) Notwithstanding the provisions of subdivision (a) of this section, the commissioner of taxation and finance may permit the secretary of the treasury of the United States or his delegates, or the proper tax officer of any city imposing a similar tax, or the authorized representative of either such officer, to inspect any return filed under this article, 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 article, but such permission shall be granted or such information furnished only if the laws of the United States or of such city, as the case may be, grant substantially similar privileges to the commissioner of taxation and finance or officer of this state charged with the administration of the tax imposed by this article, and only if such information is to be used for tax purposes only; and provided further the commissioner of taxation and finance may furnish to the commissioner of internal revenue or his authorized representative such returns 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 of the United States or his delegates, provided the laws of the United States grant substantially similar powers to the secretary of the treasury of the United States or his delegates. Where the commissioner of taxation and finance has so authorized the use of returns and other 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 returns or other information.(d) The tax appeals tribunal shall, nevertheless, publish a copy or a summary of any decision rendered after the hearing required pursuant to this chapter.(e) Nothing herein shall be construed to prohibit the delivery to a grantor or grantee of an instrument effecting a conveyance or the duly authorized representative of a grantor or grantee of a certified copy of any return filed in connection with such instrument or to prohibit the publication of statistics so classified as to prevent the identification of particular returns and the items thereof, or the inspection by the attorney general or other legal representatives of the state of the return of any taxpayer who 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 returns 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 taxpayer under this article.(f) Any officer or employee of the state who willfully violates the provisions 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.(g) Cross-reference. For criminal penalties, see article thirty-seven of this chapter.(h) Notwithstanding the provisions of subdivision (a) of this section, the commissioner may furnish information relating to real property transfers obtained or derived from returns filed pursuant to this article in relation to the real estate transfer tax, to the extent that such information is also required to be reported to the commissioner by section three hundred thirty-three of the real property law and section five hundred seventy-four of the real property tax law and the rules adopted thereunder, provided such information was collected through a combined process established pursuant to an agreement entered into with the commissioner pursuant to paragraph viii of subdivision one-e of section three hundred thirty-three of the real property law. The commissioner may redisclose such information to the extent authorized by section five hundred seventy-four of the real property tax law. The commissioner may also disclose any information reported pursuant to paragraph two of subdivision (a) of section fourteen hundred nine of this article.(i)(1) Notwithstanding the provisions of subdivision (a) 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 returns filed specified in such request that were 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 return, 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 return, and any social security numbers, account numbers and residential address information. (2) No returns shall be furnished pursuant to this subdivision unless the chairperson of the requesting committee certifies in writing that such returns 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 returns or return information, pursuant to 26 U.S.C. Section 6103 (f), and that if such requested returns 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 federal law as informed by the requirements and procedures established in 26 U.S.C. Section 6103 (f). Amended by New York Laws 2021, ch. 59,Sec. O-4, eff. 4/19/2021.Amended by New York Laws 2019, ch. 92,Sec. 14, eff. 7/8/2019.Amended by New York Laws 2019, ch. 91,Sec. 15, eff. 7/8/2019.