Income-tax retruns and information provided to Income Tax Authorities by assessee are confidental and not required to be placed in pubic domain; given nature of income-tax returns and information necessary to support same, it would be exempt under section 8(1)(j) of Right to Information Act, 2005 in respect of individual and unincorporated assessees
In cases of widely held companies most information relating to their income and expenditure would be in public domain and it is only confidential information that would be exempt from disclosure under section 8(1)(d) of 2005 Act
Information furnished by an assessee in income-tax return can be disclosed only where it is necessary to do in public interest and where such interest outweighs in importance, any possible harm or injury to assessee or any other third party, however, information furnished by corporate assessees that neither relates to another party nor is exempt under section 8(1)(d) of 2005 Act can be disclosed
Sournce: www.taxmann.com
