BIR Ruling [DA-006-00]

January 5, 2000 BIR RULING [DA-006-00] UE Automotive Workers Union 28-30 Gen. Mascardo Street Caloocan City Attention: Mr . Alfredo B . Basi President Gentlemen : This refers to your letter dated September 28, 1999 requesting for copies of the withholding tax payments made by UE Automotive Manufacturing, Inc. It is represented that you had been experiencing bad delays in the implementation particularly on the economic side of your collective bargaining agreement with your employer, UE Automotive Manufacturing, Inc.; that you are worried that your employer will not remit your monthly withholding tax as it did with your monthly contributions to the SSS, Pag-ibig and Medicare which caused serious damage on your part through denial of the privileges and benefits of the health care programs of the said agencies; that you have been demanding from your employer an audited company's financial statement that would support their statement of cash flow problems and economic crisis; and that said demands were denied for various reasons. In reply, we regret to inform you that we cannot grant your request in view of the prohibition granted under Section 270 of the Tax Code of 1997 which provides viz: "SEC. 270. Unlawful Divulgence of Trade Secrets . Except as provided in Section 71 of this Code and Section 26 of Republic Act No. 6388, any officer or employee of the Bureau of Internal Revenue who divulges to any person or makes known in any other manner than may be provided by law information regarding the business, income, or estate of any taxpayer, the secrets, operation, style or work, or apparatus of any manufacturer or producer, or confidential information regarding the business of any taxpayer, knowledge of which was acquired by him in the discharge of his official duties, shall, upon conviction for each act or omission, be punished by a fine of not less than Fifty thousand pesos (P50,000) but not more than One hundred thousand pesos (P100,000), or suffer imprisonment of not less than two (2) years but not more than five (5) years or both. Parallel to the above, Section 278 also of the Tax Code of 1997 provides, viz: "SEC. 278. Procuring Unlawful Divulgence of Trade Secrets . Any person who causes or procures an officer or employee of the Bureau of Internal Revenue to divulge any confidential information regarding the business, income or inheritance of any taxpayer, knowledge of which was acquired by him in the discharge of his official duties, and which it is unlawful for him to reveal, and any person who publishes or prints in any manner whatever, not provided by law, any income, profit, loss or expenditure appearing in any income tax return, shall be punished by a fine of not more than Two thousand pesos (P2,000), or suffer imprisonment of not less than six (6) months nor more than five (5) years, or both. LexLib Finally, it may not be amiss to state herein that this Office has denied similar requests coming from other government agencies, i.e., Senate, House of Representatives, NBI, etc., for certified true copies of income tax returns needed the investigation of those who have acquired ill-gotten wealth. Very truly yours, (SGD.) BEETHOVEN L. RUALO Commissioner of Internal Revenue