a. The commissioner of finance may establish a procedure for providing conciliation conferences for purposes of settling contested determinations of taxes or charges or denials of refunds or credits with respect to taxes or charges imposed under chapter five, six, seven, eight, nine, eleven, twelve, thirteen, fourteen, fifteen, twenty-one, twenty-two, twenty-four, twenty-five or twenty-seven of this title, or for the purpose of settling disputes arising from the notification of the refusal to grant, the suspension or the revocation of a license issued pursuant to chapter thirteen of this title. If such a procedure is established, a conciliation conference shall be provided at the option of any taxpayer or any other person subject to the provisions of any of such chapters. For purposes of this subdivision, if the commissioner of finance fails to act with respect to a refund application before the expiration of the time period after which the taxpayer may file a petition for refund with the tax appeals tribunal established by section one hundred sixty-eight of the charter pursuant to subdivision (c) of section 11-529 or subdivision three of section 11-680 of the code, such failure shall be deemed to be the denial of a refund.
b. A request for a conciliation conference shall be made in the manner set forth in rules promulgated by the commissioner of finance and, notwithstanding any provision of law to the contrary, shall suspend the running of the period of limitations for the filing of a petition with the tax appeals tribunal under chapter five, six, seven, eight, nine, eleven, twelve, thirteen, fourteen, fifteen, twenty-one, twenty-two, twenty-four, twenty-five or twenty-seven of this title until such time as a conciliation decision is rendered by the commissioner of finance, or until the person who requested the conciliation conference makes a written request to discontinue or withdraw from the conciliation proceeding.
c. Nothing contained herein shall prevent any taxpayer or any other person who has received a notice of determination, notice of deficiency or notice of denial of a claim for refund from filing a petition with the tax appeals tribunal if the time for filing such a petition has not elapsed.
d. The commissioner of finance is authorized and empowered to make, adopt and amend rules appropriate to the carrying out of this section and the purposes thereof.