§ 1518. Secrecy required of officials; penalty for violation. (a)\nExcept in accordance with the proper judicial order or as otherwise\nprovided by law, it shall be unlawful for the commissioner of taxation\nand finance, the superintendent of financial services, any officer or\nemployee of the department of taxation and finance, or the department of\nfinancial services or any person who, pursuant to this section, is\npermitted to inspect any return, or any person engaged or retained by\nsuch department on an independent contract basis, or any person who in\nany manner may acquire knowledge of the contents of a return filed\npursuant to this article, to divulge or make known in any manner the\namount of income or any particulars set forth or disclosed in any return\nrequired under this article. The officers charged with the custody of\nsuch returns shall not be required to produce any of them or evidence of\nanything contained in them in any action or proceeding in any court,\nexcept on behalf of the state or the commissioner of taxation and\nfinance in any action or proceeding under the provisions of this chapter\nor in any other action or proceeding involving the collection of a tax\ndue under this chapter to which the state or the commissioner of\ntaxation and finance is a party or a claimant or on behalf of any party\nin an action or proceeding under the provisions of this article when the\nreturns or facts shown thereby are directly involved in such action or\nproceeding, in any of which events the court may require the production\nof and may admit in evidence so much of said returns or the fact shown\nthereby as are pertinent to the action or proceeding and no more. The\ncommissioner of taxation and finance may, nevertheless, publish a copy\nor a summary of any determination or decision rendered after the hearing\nprovided for in section one thousand eighty-nine of this chapter.\nNotwithstanding any provisions of this section, the commissioner of\ntaxation and finance may permit the superintendent of financial services\nor his authorized representative to inspect the returns filed with the\ncommissioner of taxation and finance under this article, or may furnish\nto such superintendent or his authorized representative an abstract of\nany return or supply him with information concerning an item contained\nin any return, or disclosed by an investigation of tax liability under\nthis article. Nothing herein shall be construed to prohibit the delivery\nto a taxpayer or its duly authorized representative of a certified copy\nof any return filed in connection with its tax nor to prohibit the\npublication of statistics so classified as to prevent the identification\nof particular returns and the items thereof, or the inspection by the\nattorney-general or other legal representatives of the state of the\nreturn of any taxpayer which shall bring action to set aside or review\nthe tax based thereon, or against which an action or proceeding under\nthis chapter has been recommended by the commissioner of taxation and\nfinance or the attorney-general or has been instituted; or the\ninspection of the returns of any taxpayer by the comptroller or duly\ndesignated officer or employee of the state department of audit and\ncontrol for purposes of the audit of a refund of any tax paid by such\ntaxpayer under this article, or the disclosing to a state agency,\npursuant to section one hundred seventy-one-f of this chapter, of the\namount of an overpayment and interest thereon certified to the\ncomptroller to be credited against a past-due legally enforceable debt\nowed to such agency and of the name and identification number of the\ntaxpayer who made such overpayment, or the disclosing to the\ncommissioner of finance of the city of New York, pursuant to section one\nhundred seventy-one-1 of this chapter, of the amount of an overpayment\nand interest thereon certified to the comptroller to be credited against\na city of New York tax warrant judg
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