BIR Ruling [DA-183-99]

March 23, 1999 BIR RULING [DA-183-99] Mr. Aguinaldo L. Miravalles Revenue District Officer Revenue District No. 27 Caloocan City S i r : This refers to the Subpoena Duces Tecum/Ad Testificandum issued by the Presidential Commission Against Graft and Corruption relative to the case of Macario Asistio, Jr. vs. Reynaldo O. Malonzo, et. al., PCAGC-ADM-98-0489, ordering you to appear before the said Commission located at the 2nd Floor, State Accounting and Auditing Center, Commonwealth Avenue, Diliman, Quezon City on January 22, 1999 at 10:00 in the morning, in connection with the on-going investigation regarding the sale of the Caloocan City property covered by Transfer Certificate of Title No. 54327 to Gotesco Investments, Inc.; and that you were instructed to bring with you the following documents/paper, viz: "1. Certified xerox copy of the Certificate Authorizing Registration No. 1250084B issued at Caloocan City on the 16th of April 1998, of Real Property Transaction Subject to Capital Gains Tax of a certain property owned by the City Government of Caloocan City where the Gotesco Grand Central Complex is located with an area of 22,658.80 square meters covered by TCT No. 54327, Tax Declaration No. 00441 and etc. "2. Certified xerox copy of the Capital Gains Tax Return that was filed in that Office. "3. Certified xerox copy of the Deed of Sale on file in that Office. "4. Certified xerox copy of the Documentary Stamp Tax paid. "5. Name of accredited bank that received the payment of the Capital Gains Tax and the Documentary Stamp Tax." In reply, please be informed that except for No. 5, we regret to deny the request for the production of the other documents in view of Section 270 of the Tax Code of 1997 which provides, viz: "SEC. 270. Unlawful Divulgence of Trade Secrets . Except as provided in Section 71 of this Code and Section 26 of Republic Act Number 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." 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. As regards the question of which Office will furnish you the only information that you can gather from this Office, we would like to inform you that the Assessment Division of Revenue Region No. 5 is the one responsible to issue the said certification, being the custodian of the docket. LLpr Very truly yours, (SGD.) BEETHOVEN L. RUALO Commissioner of Internal Revenue