BIR Ruling No. 002-08

April 11, 2008 BIR RULING NO. 002-08 Sec. 270; 000-00 Office of the Resident Ombudsman Bureau of Internal Revenue Rm. 103, National Office Building Diliman, Quezon City Attention: Mr. Paterno B. Alarcon, Jr. Resident Ombudsman Gentlemen : This refers to your letter dated September 20, 2007 requesting information on the a) Taxpayer Identification Number (TIN); b) Business Address; and c) Contact Numbers of the following taxpayers conducting business in the municipality of Sto. Tomas, Batangas: 1. Aikawa Phils., Inc. 2. Tann Phils., Inc. 3. St. Frances Cabrini Med. Center 4. Komyo Phils. Logistic Service 5. Apolonio Calopez 6. First Electro Dynamics Corp. 7. Lyceum-St. Cabrini College In reply, please be informed that Section 270 of the Tax Code of 1997 provides "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." aIcHSC It is evident from the above provision that under the "unlawful divulgence" rule, BIR personnel cannot divulge information gained from taxpayers concerning the latter's business, income, or estate as well as the secrets, operation, style or work, or apparatus of any manufacturer or producer, or confidential information regarding the business of any taxpayer. Section 270 is clear in its intent to protect taxpayers from having their otherwise sensitive and private information unnecessarily revealed to other parties. Thus, in its letter to the Fact Finding and Intelligence Bureau, Office of the Ombudsman, this Office had occasion to rule as follows: "In Opinion No. 72, Series of 1991, the Secretary of Justice opined that individual income tax returns under the first paragraph of the aforequoted Section 'shall constitute public records and be open to inspection as such upon the order of the President of the Philippines under rules and regulations to be prescribed . . . by the Secretary of Finance.' The existing rules on inspection of such returns provide that such inspection is allowed only to (a) BIR officials and employees whose official duties require such inspection; (b) the person who made the return, or his duly constituted attorney-in fact; (c) the administrator, executor, or trustee of the taxpayer's estate or the duly constituted attorney-in-fact of such administrator, executor or trustee, where the maker of the return has died; and (d) in the discretion of the Commissioner of Internal Revenue, one of the heirs of law or next of kin of such deceased person upon showing that he has a material interest which will be affected by the information contained in the return. Based on the foregoing, we cannot grant the request in view of the prohibition under Section 270 of the Tax Code of 1997." (BIR Ruling No. 185-99 dated November 26, 1999) However, this Office is of the opinion that the abovementioned rule does not contemplate the inclusion of the following information, i.e., a) Taxpayer Identification Number (TIN); b) Business Address; and c) Contact Number of the taxpayer, as among the protected information, inasmuch as they do not contain any data on 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. Since the data being requested are not among the information that are prohibited to be divulged pursuant to Section 270 of the Tax Code of 1997, consequently, a certification as to the information required may be issued by the Information Systems Group. cITAaD Very truly yours, (SGD.) LILIAN B. HEFTI Commissioner of Internal Revenue