SA Gennady A. Chiong

February 16, 2007 BIR RULING [DA-105-07] DA-387-2000; Sec. 270, NIRC SA Gennady A. Chiong NBI-CEMRO, ORC Compound, Cotabato City S i r : This refers to your letter, dated September 26, 2006, requesting for the certified true copies of the Individual Income Tax Returns (ITRs) for the years 2000-2005 of the following taxpayers: 1.) DATU ANDAL AMPATUAN, SR. Shariff Aguak, Maguindanao 2.) DATU ZALDY U. AMPATUAN Shariff Aguak, Maguindanao 3.) ENGR. NORI UNAS Cotabato City 4.) REBECCA AMPATUAN Shariff Aguak, Maguindanao In reply, please be informed that Section 270 of the Tax Code of 1997, as amended by Republic Act (RA) No. 9337, 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." SDIACc Furthermore, 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. Based on the foregoing, we regret to inform you that the nature of your request does not fall under any of the instances where information in taxpayers' ITRs may be revealed and as such, this Office is constrained to withhold such information pursuant to Section 270 of the same Tax Code. Very truly yours, Commissioner of Internal Revenue By: (SGD.) JAMES H. ROLDAN Assistant Commissioner Legal Service