BIR Ruling [DA-551-98]

December 4, 1998 BIR RULING [DA-551-98] Office of the Ombudsman Fact-Finding and Intelligence Bureau 176 MWSS Building, Arroceros St. Ermita, Manila Attention: Atty . Franco T . Falcon Graft Investigation Officer II Gentlemen : This refers to your letter dated September 26, 1997 requesting that you be furnished with certified true copies of income tax returns of MR. NESTOR V. AGUSTIN for taxable years 1993, 1994 and 1995. You stated that you need the same for your evaluation and subsequent filing of cases, if warranted, by the evidences this Office can provide. aisadc In reply, please be informed that Section 270 of the Tax Code of 1997 [then Sec. 269 of the Tax Code, as amended], provides: "SEC. 270. Unlawful Divulgence of Trade Secrets . Except as provided in Section 71 of this Code and Section 26 of Republic Act Numbered 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 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. Based on the foregoing, we cannot grant the request in view of the prohibition under Section 270 of the Tax Code of 1997. cdta Very truly yours, Commissioner of Internal Revenue By: (SGD.) SIXTO S. ESQUIVIAS IV Deputy Commissioner ( Legal & Enforcement Group )