Office of the Budget v. Campbell
Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania
No. 1745, C.D. 2010
August 4, 2011
The Commonwealth Court ruled that tax returns and tax return information, which are confidential under federal law, are not subject to disclosure under the Right to Know Law.
Background
Simon Campbell submitted a Right to Know Law request to the Office of the Budget, seeking W-2 forms for current and former Office of Open Records (OOR) employees.
The Office denied the request, stating that the information is confidential under federal law and is not subject to disclosure under the RTKL.
Campbell appealed to the Office of Open Records, limiting his appeal to employees’ names and addresses, their employers’ names and addresses, and their pension contributions.
The OOR stated that in prior cases it had ruled that W-2 forms are public records. Therefore, it ruled that the office must release the requested information, except for employees’ addresses. The office appealed to the Commonwealth Court.
Commonwealth Court Decision
The court reversed the OOR’s decision and concluded that all of the information in the W-2s is exempt from disclosure.
In support of that ruling, the court cited the federal Internal Revenue Code, which provides that “returns and return information shall be confidential” and “no officer or employee of any state… shall disclose any return or return information.”
The court explained that under federal law the W-2 forms fall within the definition of a “return” and therefore are covered by the Internal Revenue Code’s confidentiality provision.