Federal:
According to Section 6301 (*1) of the Internal Revenue Code all
federal tax return information, corporate and individual, is
confidential and cannot be publicly disclosed. There are situations
where the information can be disclosed.
-Section 6103(c) allows disclosure to a designee of the taxpayer.
-Section 6103(d) allows disclosure to state and local authorities
under specified circumstances.
-Section 6103(e)(1)(D) allows disclosure to a designee, "any officer
or employee of such corporation upon written request signed by any
principal officer and attested to by the secretary or other officer",
any shareholder owning 1% of the corporation'stock.
State:
Under state law, only two states, Massachusetts and Wisconsin, require
disclosure (*2) of corporate tax return information. A Montana
Senator is currently suing the state to require disclosure (*3).
The Brookings Institution held a forum to discuss policy
considerations for and against disclosure of corporate tax returns
(*4).
Even though corporate tax returns cannot be disclosed, one could
attempt to garner information about a 'public' corporation's revenues
by looking at their corporate filings with the SEC (*5). The
Securities and Exchange Commission requires public companies for file
quarterly and annual financial statements, which can be searched
online on EDGAR (*6). The quarterly financial statements are called a
10-Q and the annual financial statements are called a 10-K and contain
information about revenues, expenses, etc.
Hope that helps.
(*1) http://www.fourmilab.ch/ustax/www/t26-F-61-B-6103.html
(*2) http://www.afscme.org/action/ala2004/alaleg05.pdf
(*3) http://www.billingsgazette.com/index.php?id=1&display=rednews/2005/05/03/build/state/55-tax-records.inc
(*4) http://www.brook.edu/es/events/20030425.htm
(*5) http://www.brook.edu/views/papers/gale/20030425_hanlon.pdf for
the PDF or http://www.brook.edu/views/papers/gale/20030425_hanlon.ppt
for a Power Point Presentation.
(*6) http://www.sec.gov/edgar.shtml |
