Effective April 7, 2009, New York’s Chapter 57 of the Laws of 2009 amended the provisions of the Voluntary Disclosure and Compliance (“VDC”) program. The New York State Department of Taxation and Finance has issued an informational statement stating that the amendment provides that the Tax Department is permitted to disclose any return or report filed by a taxpayer under the VDC program to the Secretary of the Treasure of the United States, his or her delegates (including the Internal Revenue Service (IRS)), or the proper tax officer of any state or city. Prior to the amendment, the law allowed for the disclosure of returns and reports filed under the VDC program to another agency only if the taxpayer failed to comply with the terms of a voluntary disclosure and compliance agreement. The amendment does not apply to any other information obtained from a taxpayer during the voluntary disclosure process, including the taxpayer’s actual disclosure under the VDC program, and only applies to returns or reports filed under the VDC program on or after the effective date. (TSB-M-09(6)I, TSB-M-09(6)C, TSB-M-9(5)M, TSB-M-09(1)R, TSB-M-09(5)S, Office of Tax Policy Analysis, New York Department of Taxation and Finance)