English text status

English translation published by the Legislation and Legal Opinion Commission. The Arabic text published in the Official Gazette remains the legal reference in the event of any discrepancy.

Practical summary

NBR staff and everyone implementing the Law must keep obtained information confidential during and after service, except for the purpose for which access was granted, NBR-authorised disclosure or compliance with Bahrain judicial requests, plus the cases in Regulations Article (100), including disclosure to a government body or a foreign tax authority under an agreement and the Taxable Person's written consent.

Who should read this?

Taxable Persons and anyone handling official tax information.

Why does it matter?

Confidentiality is a legal duty, subject to permitted disclosure such as authorised judicial requests.

During and after serviceNBR authorisationJudicial request

Current text

Employees working for the Bureau and all of those working on implementing the provisions of this Law shall be obliged not to disclose information obtained or disclosed to them, due to the nature of their work, during or after their service, except in cases where they have been permitted to disclose such information based on authorisation from the Bureau or to execute requests of the Kingdom’s judicial authorities

Application steps

  1. 1

    Use official channels for tax information.

  2. 2

    Verify the recipient's capacity and legal basis.

  3. 3

    Record the information supplied, recipient and date.

Connected provisions

Direct legislative link

Regulations — Article (100)

Confidentiality of information

Sets the rules on access, use and disclosure.

Open connected Article

Official guides and tools

Official text

Value Added Tax Law

Article (68)

Official guide

VAT General Guide

Practical guidance relevant to the Article

Illustrative example by Madar

Informal request for tax data

An undocumented call is not treated as sufficient authority to disclose confidential tax information; verify the requester, channel and legal basis first.

Questions to help you apply it

  • Who requested the information?
  • What authorises disclosure and what was supplied?