Ongkiko Kalaw Manhit & Acorda Law Office

January 31, 2007 BIR RULING [DA-056-07] DA-387-2000; Sec. 270, NIRC; Sec. 9, R.R. 33 Ongkiko Kalaw Manhit & Acorda Law Office 4th Flr. Cacho-Gonzalez Bldg. 101 Aguirre St., Legaspi Village Makati City Attention: Mindamar S. Somera Gentlemen : This refers to your letter dated January 15, 2007, requesting this Office for certified true copies of the Income Tax Return (ITR) as well as other BIR-related documents of your client, Chuayuco Steel Manufacturing Corp (CSMC) . Attached to this letter is a Secretary's Certificate dated January 16, 2007, wherein CSMC's Board of Directors authorized one Evelyn A. Gonzales and your firm to secure the abovementioned documents. In reply, please be informed that Section 270 of the Tax Code of 1997, as amended by Republic Act (RA) No. 9337, states the unlawful divulgence rule with regard to the treatment of information by BIR officials and employees. The said Section provides that: "SEC. 270. Unlawful Divulgence of Trade Secrets . Except as provided in Section 71 of this Code and Section 26 of Republic Act No. 6388, any officer or employee of the Bureau of Internal Revenue who divulges to any person or makes known in any other manner than may be provided by law information regarding the business, income, or estate of any taxpayer, the secrets, operation, style or work, or apparatus of any manufacturer or producer, or confidential information regarding the business of any taxpayer, knowledge of which was acquired by him in the discharge of his official duties, shall upon conviction for each act or omission, be punished by a fine of not less than Fifty thousand pesos (P50,000) but not more than One hundred thousand pesos (P100,000), or suffer imprisonment of not less than two (2) years but not more than five (5) years, or both." In Opinion No. 72, Series of 1991, the Secretary of Justice opined that individual income tax returns under the first paragraph of the aforequoted Section " shall constitute public records and be open to inspection as such upon the order of the President of the Philippines under rules and regulations to be prescribed . . . by the Secretary of Finance ". The existing rules on inspection of such returns provide that such inspection is allowed only to (a) BIR officials and employees whose official duties require such inspection; (b) the person who made the return, or his duly constituted attorney in fact; (c) the administrator, executor, or trustee of the taxpayer's estate or the duly constituted attorney-in-fact of such administrator, executor, or trustee, where the maker of the return has died; and (d) in the discretion of the Commissioner of Internal Revenue, one of the heirs of law or next of kin of such deceased person upon showing that he has a material interest which will be affected by the information contained in the return. On the other hand, in the case of a corporation, the return shall be open to inspection upon satisfactory evidence of identity and official position, by the president, vice-president, secretary, treasurer, or any of the members of the board of directors, or any executive or principal officer of such corporation. (Section 9, Revenue Regulations No. 33) From the foregoing, it is clear that an acting corporate secretary should be given access to the corporation's return upon satisfactory evidence of her identity and official position. In this regard, the attached Secretary's Certificate identifying Mindamar Somera as the acting corporate secretary of CSMC and authorizing Evelyn Gonzales and the Ongkiko Law Office to secure certified true copies of CSMC's ITR and other related documents, meets the requirements for disclosure of such information to corporate officers. Accordingly, this Office hereby authorizes you to obtain such copies of the abovementioned documents pursuant to Section 9 of RR 33. CDAHaE This ruling is being issued on the basis of the foregoing facts as represented. However, if upon investigation, it will be disclosed that the facts are different, then this ruling shall be considered null and void. Very truly yours, Commissioner of Internal Revenue By: (SGD.) JAMES H. ROLDAN Assistant Commissioner Legal Service