§ 1555. 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 any\nparticulars set forth or disclosed in any return required under this\narticle. The officers charged with the custody of such returns shall not\nbe required to produce any of them or evidence of anything contained in\nthem in any action or proceeding in any court, except on behalf of the\nstate or the commissioner of taxation and finance in any action or\nproceeding under the provisions of this chapter or in any other action\nor proceeding involving the collection of a tax due under this chapter\nto which the state or the commissioner of taxation and finance is a\nparty or a claimant or on behalf of any party in an action or proceeding\nunder the provisions of this article when the returns or facts shown\nthereby are directly involved in such action or proceeding, in any of\nwhich events the court may require the production of and may admit in\nevidence so much of said returns or the facts shown thereby as are\npertinent to the action or proceeding and no more. The commissioner of\ntaxation and finance may, nevertheless, publish a copy or a summary of\nany determination or decision rendered after the hearing provided for in\nsection one thousand eighty-nine of this chapter. Notwithstanding any\nprovisions of this section, the commissioner of taxation and finance may\npermit the superintendent of financial services or his authorized\nrepresentative to inspect the returns filed with such commissioner under\nthis article, or may furnish to such superintendent or his authorized\nrepresentative an abstract of any return or supply him with information\nconcerning an item contained in any return, or disclosed by an\ninvestigation of tax liability under this article. Nothing herein shall\nbe construed to prohibit the delivery to a taxpayer or its duly\nauthorized representative of a certified copy of any return filed in\nconnection with its tax nor to prohibit the publication of statistics so\nclassified as to prevent the identification of particular returns and\nthe items thereof, or the inspection by the attorney general or other\nlegal representatives of the state of the return of any taxpayer which\nshall bring action to set aside or review the tax based thereon, or\nagainst which an action or proceeding under this chapter has been\nrecommended by the commissioner of taxation and finance or the attorney\ngeneral or has been instituted; or the inspection of the returns of any\ntaxpayer by the comptroller or duly designated officer or employee of\nthe state department of audit and control for purposes of the audit of a\nrefund of any tax paid by such taxpayer under this article. The\nprovisions of this section shall not be construed to prohibit or limit\nthe superintendent of financial services from divulging or making known\nany information pursuant to the authority of the insurance law and shall\nnot be construed to prohibit the attorney general or superintendent of\nfinancial services or any officer or employee of the department of law\nor the department of financial services from using information derived\nindependently of any return filed under this article in any action or\nproceeding under the insurance law. Returns shall be preserved for three\nyears and thereafter until the commissioner of taxation and finance\norders them to be destroy
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