BIR Ruling [UN-043-94]

February 8, 1994 BIR RULING [UN-043-94] Councilor Joselito B. San Jose Office of the Sangguniang Bayan Rodriguez, Rizal S i r : This refers to your letter dated December 2, 1993, requesting that you be furnished information regarding the annual gross sales of the taxpayers listed therein, obviously for the purpose of ascertaining the taxes due and collectible from them under the Local Government Code. cdi In reply, I regret to inform you that your request cannot be granted in view of the prohibition under Section 269 of the National Internal Revenue Code, which for purposes of reference, is quoted as follows: "SEC. 269. Unlawful divulgence of trade secrets . Except as provided in Section 74 (now 64) of this Code and Section 26 of Republic Act Numbered 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, operations, style, of 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 fined in a sum of not less than five thousand pesos but not more than ten thousand pesos, or imprisoned for a term of not less than six months but not more than five years, or both". As regards your question whether the firms listed in Classification A of your letter, i.e., Montalban Millex Aggregates Corporation, Philippine Rock Products, Sandrock Trading, Solid Integrated Company, Inc. and Vulcan Industrial and Mining Corporation, have been levied mining taxes, please be informed that the desired data is no longer necessary for purposes of claiming the 40% share of your municipality in the proceeds of mining tax (excise) collected from those firms. All that your municipality has to do is to follow the guidelines/procedures prescribed in Paragraph III A of Revenue Memorandum Order No. 25-93 dated April 14, 1993 (copy enclosed) in order to facilitate your municipality's claim for 40% share in the proceeds of the mining taxes collected. Very truly yours, JAIME M. MAZA Assistant Commissioner (Legal Service)