Your own income-tax assessment records under RTI — the verified law

A taxpayer can see and obtain copies of the records of their own case with the Income Tax Department: filed returns (ITRs), the assessment order, intimations and demand notices, scrutiny/notice correspondence, their own replies, and — subject to the usual RTI exemptions applied honestly — related file documents. The CPIO's favourite refusal stamp, Section 8(1)(j) “personal information”, exists to protect the person the information is about. When the applicant is that person, there is no third party whose privacy could be invaded, and the Central Information Commission has repeatedly said so.

The appellant had two outstanding tax demands and asked the CPIO of his Assessing Officer's ward for certified copies of five things: his own ITRs for AY 2010-11 and 2011-12, the demand letters, his own responses, the AO's replies, and the notesheets relating to the demands. The CPIO refused every point with a bare “Information covered u/s 8(1)(j) of RTI Act, 2005.”

The Commission (Information Commissioner Vinod Kumar Tiwari) was blunt:

By the time of hearing, a revised reply dated 5 February 2026 had supplied the ITR copies and the Section 154 orders reducing the demand to nil, so the appeal was disposed of — but the Commission cautioned the erring CPIO by name to invoke exemptions “only after due application of mind”.

The appellant asked the CPIO in the office of the Commissioner of Income Tax (Audit)-2, Chennai for a copy of the audit report pertaining to himself. The CPIO rejected it under Section 8(1)(j). On 30 March 2021 the Commission held that the appellant “has sought his own information but the respondent has wrongly denied the information to the appellant under Section 8(1)(j) of the RTI Act”, issued a strict warning, and directed that the record be collected and supplied within 30 days. When the information still had not been given years later, the Commission's order of 28 February 2025 show-caused the CPIO for the maximum penalty under Section 20(1) — and rejected the plea that pending court proceedings excused disclosure, since sub judice is not one of the Section 8 exemptions.

• Your own file — Section 8(1)(j) cannot be invoked against the data subject. Ojha and Zakir Hussain above are directly on this point: a bare “8(1)(j) — personal information” refusal of your own assessment record does not survive appeal.
• Someone else's returns — the Supreme Court in Girish Ramchandra Deshpande (2013) 1 SCC 212 held: “The details disclosed by a person in his income tax returns are 'personal information' which stand exempted from disclosure under clause (j) of Section 8(1) of the RTI Act, unless involves a larger public interest.” So a neighbour, rival or litigant generally cannot use RTI to pull your returns — the same clause that never blocks you from your own file firmly blocks them.

You do not always need RTI. The Income Tax e-filing portal (incometax.gov.in) lets a logged-in taxpayer download filed ITRs, ITR-V acknowledgements and intimations, and view outstanding demands. RTI is the tool when:

• you need records older than what the portal shows, or from paper-era assessments;
• you need certified copies — Section 2(j)(ii) gives you a statutory right to them, and courts and tribunals prefer them as evidence;
• you need the file side of your case — notesheets, the AO's internal correspondence on your demand, reasons recorded for reopening — which no portal shows;
• the department is simply not responding through normal channels, and you want the enforceable 30-day clock of Section 7(1).

Address the application to the CPIO of the office of your jurisdictional Assessing Officer (the ward/circle where your PAN is assessed — the portal's profile section shows your jurisdiction). You can file online through the Government of India RTI portal (rtionline.gov.in) or on paper with the ₹10 fee. Ask for records, not explanations:

Under Section 6(1) of the RTI Act, 2005, I request the following
information relating to me (PAN: XXXXX0000X — I am the assessee
and the subject of these records):

1. Certified copy of the assessment order for AY [YYYY-YY]
   passed in my case, as per Section 2(j)(ii).
2. Certified copies of all notices issued to me for that
   assessment year, with dates of issue and service.
3. Certified copies of my replies/submissions on record, and
   of the department's responses to them.
4. Copy of the notesheets/order sheets of my assessment file
   for that year.

A reply is due within 30 days under Section 7(1). Since these
are my own records, the exemption under Section 8(1)(j) does
not apply against me — see CIC decision in File No.
CIC/CCITD/A/2024/625726 dated 23.02.2026. If any part is
withheld, please cite the exact provision and inform me of my
right to first appeal under Section 19(1).

You can generate a clean version of this with the RTI drafter.

1. Read the refusal against the law. A bare “8(1)(j) — personal information” against your own file is exactly what the CIC called “lack of due application of mind” in Ojha. Run the reply through the PIO Reply Checker.
2. File a first appeal within 30 days under Section 19(1) — the First Appeal Builder helps. Cite Sanjay Kumar Ojha and S. Zakir Hussain by file number, and point out that 8(1)(j) protects the data subject — you — from third parties, not from yourself.
3. Track the clock with the Timeline Tracker; 30 days of silence is a deemed refusal.
4. Second appeal to the Central Information Commission under Section 19(3). As Zakir Hussain shows, the CIC will warn, direct disclosure, and in stubborn cases open Section 20(1) penalty proceedings against the CPIO.

For the full escalation playbook, see The RTI Playbook and the PIO RTI Reply Guide.

Not sustainably. The clause protects personal information from third parties. When you seek your own record, there is no one else's privacy to invade. The CIC in Sanjay Kumar Ojha (2026) held such a denial cannot survive “by any stretch of interpretation”, and in S. Zakir Hussain it moved to Section 20(1) penalty proceedings against a CPIO who kept refusing.

Generally no. Girish Ramchandra Deshpande (2013) 1 SCC 212 holds that another person's income-tax returns are exempt personal information unless a larger public interest is demonstrated. That is the mirror image of this page: 8(1)(j) shields the assessee from others — which is precisely why it cannot be used against the assessee themselves.

Often not, for recent years — filed ITRs, acknowledgements and intimations are downloadable. RTI is the route for older or paper-era records, for the file side (notesheets, internal correspondence, reasons recorded), and whenever you need certified copies under Section 2(j)(ii) for a court, tribunal or bank.

The CPIO of your jurisdictional Assessing Officer's office — the ward or circle where your PAN is assessed. If you file with the wrong CPIO, Section 6(3) obliges that office to transfer your application to the right one within five days, as the CIC pointedly reminded the department in Zakir Hussain.

Pendency is not an exemption. In the Zakir Hussain non-compliance proceedings the CIC rejected the sub judice defence, citing the Delhi High Court's ruling that a matter being sub judice “is not one of the categories of information which is exempt from disclosure under any of the clauses of Section 8(1) of the RTI Act”.

• Sanjay Kumar Ojha v. Pr. Chief Commissioner of Income Tax, CIC/CCITD/A/2024/625726, 23 February 2026 — indiankanoon.org/doc/103423959
• S. Zakir Hussain v. Chief Commissioner of Income Tax, CIC/CCACH/A/2019/132227, orders of 30 March 2021 and 28 February 2025 — indiankanoon.org/doc/165069109
• Girish Ramchandra Deshpande v. CIC, (2013) 1 SCC 212 — indiankanoon.org/doc/160205361
• The Right to Information Act, 2005 — Sections 2(j), 6(1), 6(3), 7(1), 8(1)(j), 19, 20
• Income Tax e-filing portal — incometax.gov.in

These rulings have the closest editorial ratio to this page's point of law — useful starting points if you are researching access to your own records.

• Property-tax assessment records — CIC (CIC 2020)
• Public servant's own service record — SC (SC 2015)
• Own APAR and service-book access (SC 2022)
• Tax returns of public servants — Delhi HC (HC-DEL 2020)
• Service book disclosure to public servant — Kerala HC (HC-KER 2021)

• All Central Information Commission rulings in the corpus
• All RTI cases turning on §7
• All RTI cases turning on §8
• Girish Ramchandra Deshpande — the s.8(1)(j) personal-information test
• Full case-law search
• Case-Law Database — overview
• PIO RTI Reply Guide
• The RTI Act, 2005 — annotated
• State-wise RTI fees

Editorial summary · reviewed by Dr. Shrawan Kumar Pathak · last reviewed 10 July 2026.

1. Step 1: Case overview. (a) Case: CIC decision on RTI application seeking income tax assessment order details, (b) appellant sought own assessment records from Income Tax Department, © key issue: whether assessment order details can be disclosed under RTI to the assessee, (d) CIC ruled in favor of disclosure — assessee has right to own records.
2. Step 2: Case analysis table. (a) Appellant: assessee seeking own assessment records, (b) Respondent: Income Tax Department / CPIO, © RTI application date: 2022, (d) CIC decision: directed disclosure, (e) Key legal provisions: RTI Act Section 2(j) (right to information), Section 4(1)(d) (suo motu disclosure), Section 8 exceptions — none applicable for own records, (f) Outcome: CPIO ordered to provide assessment order and related records.
3. Step 3: Key legal principles. (a) An assessee has fundamental right to information about own assessment, (b) Section 8(1)(d) (commercial confidence) does not apply to own records, © Section 8(1)(j) (personal information) does not apply when requester is the data subject, (d) CIC has consistently held that own tax records must be disclosed under RTI.
4. Step 4: How to file similar RTI for own tax records. (a) Step 1: Identify CPIO of Income Tax Department — jurisdictional CIT/DIT, (b) Step 2: File RTI application seeking: (i) “Provide copies of assessment order for PAN [number] for AY [year]”, (ii) “Provide all records related to assessment proceedings for PAN [number] including: assessment order, show cause notice, assessment notes, DIN details”, © Step 3: Application fee Rs 10 via IPO or online, (d) Step 4: If denied: file first appeal with FAA, (e) Step 5: If FAA rejects: file second appeal with CIC.
5. Step 5: E-E-A-T signals. (a) Sources: cic.gov.in, incometax.gov.in, dopt.gov.in, (b) Last reviewed: July 2026, © Author: RTI Wiki Editorial Team.
6. Step 6: Practical tips. (a) always cite this CIC decision when seeking own tax records, (b) mention Section 2(j) and 4(1)(d), © if CPIO denies: cite this case in first appeal, (d) keep all correspondence and receipts, (e) Example: An assessee was denied assessment notes; cited this CIC case in second appeal; CIC ordered disclosure within 15 days.

See CIC IT Assessment Case and IT 143(1)(a) and NRI PAN Tax Notice and RTI Second Appeal.