Skip to code content (skip section selection)
Compare to:
New York City Overview
The New York City Charter
The New York City Administrative Code
The Rules of the City of New York
THE RULES OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK
Title 1: Department of Buildings
Title 2: Board of Standards and Appeals
Title 3: Fire Department
Title 6: Department of Consumer and Worker Protection
Title 9: Procurement Policy Board Rules
Title 12: Franchise and Concession Review Committee
Title 15: Department of Environmental Protection
Title 16: Department of Sanitation
Title 17: Business Integrity Commission
Title 19: Department of Finance
Title 20: Tax Appeals Tribunal
Title 21: Tax Commission
Title 22: Banking Commission
Title 24: Department of Health and Mental Hygiene
Title 25: Department of Mental Health and Retardation [Repealed]
Title 28: Housing Preservation and Development
Title 29: Loft Board
Title 30: Rent Guidelines Board
Title 31: Mayor's Office of Homelessness and Single Room Occupancy
Title 34: Department of Transportation
Title 35: Taxi and Limousine Commission
Title 38: Police Department
Title 38-A: Civilian Complaint Review Board
Title 39: Department of Correction
Title 40: Board of Correction
Title 41: Department of Juvenile Justice
Title 42: Department of Probation
Title 43: Mayor
Title 44: Comptroller
Title 45: Borough Presidents
Title 46: Law Department
Title 47: Commission on Human Rights
Title 48: Office of Administrative Trials and Hearings (OATH)
Title 49: Department of Records and Information Services
Title 50: Community Assistance Unit
Title 51: City Clerk
Title 52: Campaign Finance Board*
Title 53: Conflicts of Interest Board
Title 55: Department of Citywide Administrative Services
Title 56: Department of Parks and Recreation
Title 57: Art Commission
Title 58: Department of Cultural Affairs
Title 60: Civil Service Commission
Title 61: Office of Collective Bargaining
Title 62: City Planning
Title 63: Landmarks Preservation Commission
Title 66: Department of Small Business Services
Title 67: Department of Information Technology and Telecommunications
Title 68: Human Resources Administration
Title 69: Department of Aging
Title 70: In Rem Foreclosure Release Board
Title 71: Voter Assistance Commission
Title 72: Office of Emergency Management
Title 73: Civic Engagement Commission
§ 11-538 Secrecy requirement and the penalties for violation.
   1.   Except in accordance with proper judicial order or as otherwise provided by law, it shall be unlawful for the commissioner of finance, the department of finance of the city, any officer or employee of the department of finance of the city, any person engaged or retained by such department on an independent contract basis, any depository to which any return may be delivered as provided in subdivision four of this section, any officer or employee of such depository, the tax appeals tribunal, any commissioner or employee of such tribunal, or any person who, pursuant to this section, is permitted to inspect any report or return or to whom a copy, an abstract or a portion of any report or return is furnished, or to whom any information contained in any report or return is furnished, to divulge or make known in any manner the amount of income or any particulars set forth or disclosed in any report or return required under this chapter. The officers charged with the custody of such reports and 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 city in an 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 city is a party or a claimant, or on behalf of any party to any action or proceeding under the provisions of this chapter when the reports, 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 reports, returns 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 delivery to a taxpayer or to the taxpayer's duly authorized representative of a certified copy of any return or report filed in connection with his or her tax or to prohibit the publication of statistics so classified as to prevent the identification of particular reports or returns and the items thereof, or the inspection by the corporation counsel or other legal representatives of the city of the report or 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 finance or the corporation counsel or has been instituted, or the inspection of the reports or returns required under this chapter by the duly designated officers or employees of the city for purposes of an audit under this chapter or an audit authorized by the enacting of this chapter. Reports and returns shall be preserved for three years and thereafter until the commissioner of finance orders them to be destroyed.
   2.   Any officer or employee of the city or the state who willfully violates the provisions of subdivision one of this section shall be dismissed from office and be incapable of holding any public office in the city or the state for a period of five years thereafter.
   3.   Cross-reference: For criminal penalties, see chapter forty of this title.
   4.   Notwithstanding the provisions of subdivision one of this section, the commissioner of finance, in his or her discretion, may require or permit any or all persons liable for any tax imposed by this chapter, to make payments on account of estimated tax and payment of any tax, penalty or interest imposed by this chapter to banks, banking houses or trust companies designated by the commissioner of finance and to file declarations of estimated tax and reports and returns with such banks, banking houses or trust companies as agents of the commissioner of finance, in lieu of making any such payment directly to the commissioner of finance. However, the commissioner of finance shall designate only such banks, banking houses or trust companies as are depositories or financial agents of the city.
   5.   This section shall be deemed a state statute for purposes of paragraph (a) of subdivision two of section eighty-seven of the public officers law.
   6.   Notwithstanding anything in subdivision one of this section to the contrary, if a taxpayer has petitioned the tax appeals tribunal for administrative review as provided in section one hundred seventy of the charter, the commissioner of finance shall be authorized to present to the tribunal any report or return of such taxpayer, or any information contained therein or relating thereto, which may be material or relevant to the proceeding before the tribunal. The tax appeals tribunal shall be authorized to publish a copy or a summary of any decision rendered pursuant to section one hundred seventy-one of the charter.
   7.   Notwithstanding anything in subdivision one of this section, the commissioner of finance may disclose to a taxpayer or a taxpayer's related member, as defined in subdivision (e) of section 11-506 of this chapter, information relating to any royalty paid, incurred or received by such taxpayer or related member to or from the other, including the treatment of such payments by the taxpayer or the related member in any report or return transmitted to the commissioner of finance under this title.