The Honorable Bob Bullock Opinion Nor H-661’
Comptroller of Public Accounts
Lyndon B. Johnson Building Re: Whether certain information
Austin, Texas 78711 about taxpayers is public.
Dear Mr. Bullock:
You have requested our opinion regarding whether certain information
about taxpayers is public. Specifically, you ask:
1. Whether the Comptroller may release information
as to the amounts of tax paid by a particular taxpayer,
and/or a list of ‘major taxpayers. ’
2. Whether the Comptroller may disclose that a dispute
exists with a particular taxpayer as to the amount of tax
which the taxpayer owes to the State, and, if the existence
of such a. dispute is disclosable, whether the Comptroller
may also disclose the amount in controversy prior to
making a final determination.
The Open Records Act, article 6252-17a, V. T. C. S., exempts from
disclosure “information deemed confidential by law, either Constitutional,
statutory, or by judicial decision. ” Section 3(a)(l).’ Article 1.031(l) of Title
122A, Taxation-General, V. T. C. S., provides:
For the purpose of carrying out the terms of this .Title the
Comptroller or any authorized agent shall have the authority
.to examine at the principal or any other office in the United
States of any person, firm, agent, or corporation permitted
to do business in this State, all books, records and papers and
also any officers or employees thereof, under oath. . . .
The Comptroller shall not make public or use said information
derived in the course of said examination of said books, records
and papers and/or officers or employees except for the purpose
of a judicial proceeding for the collection of delinquent taxes
in which the State of Texas is a party. . . .
p. 2896
The Honorable Bob BulloGok, page 2
In addition, article 20. 11(G)(l) provides:
It shall be a misdemeanor for any official or employee
of the Comptroller to make known in any manner what-
ever the business affairs, operations or information
obtained by an investigation of records and activities
of any retailer or any other person visited or examined
in the discharge of official duty, or the amount or source
of income, profits, losses, expenditures, or any parti-
cular thereof, set forth or disclosed in any return, or
to permit any return or copy thereof, or any book.con-
taining any abstract or particulars thereof to be seen
or examined by any person not connected with the
Comptroller.
As we stated in Attorney General Opinion H-223 (1974), “the effect of
these provisions is to make certain information in the possession of the
Comptroller confidential and thereby bring it within the $ 3(a)(l) exception
to the Open Records Act. ” The amount of gross sales on a sales and use
tax return is exempted from disclosure by article 20. 11(G)(l). Open
Records Decision 17 (1974). We believe that the prohibition logically
extends as well to the amount of sales or use tax paid by a particular tax-
payer, since the amount of gross sales could be easily computed if the
amount of sales or use tax were known. Furthermore, we believe that the
Comptroller would be precluded by article 20. 11(G)(l) from making public
a list of “major taxpayers. ” Such disclosure, to the extent it necessarily
imparts information relating to financial data obtained from a return,
would appear to us to fall within the spirit of the prohibition of 20.11(G)(l).
In addition, it is our opinion that article 20. 11(G)(l) does not prohibit
the Comptroller from disclosing the existence of a dispute with a particular
taxpayer regarding the amount of tax which the taxpayer owes the State. In
Attorney General Opinion H-223 (1974), we held that the Comptroller may
reveal the fact that a taxpayer has requested a redetermination of his tax
status or a claim for refund hearing, since the revelation of such information
“is hardly comparable to revealing the actual details of his business affairs.”
Such request presupposes the existence of a dispute between the Comptroller
and the taxpayer, and revelation of its existence does not, in our view,
contravene either the spirit or letter of article 20. 11(G)(l).
p. 2897
The Honorable Bob Bullock, page 3
It does not follow, however, that the Comptroller may reveal the
amount in controversy if disclosure of this amount would indicate the amount
of the taxpayer’s gross sales. In our opinion the Comptroller should not,
prior to making a final determination, disclose the amount in controversy
between his office and a particular taxpayer as to the amount of tax which
the taxpayer owes the State if doing so would indicate the amount of the
taxpayer’s gross sales.
SUMMARY
The Comptroller may not release information
as to the amounts of sales or use tax paid by a
particular taxpayer. Although he may disclose the
existence of a dispute with a particular taxpayer
as to the amount of tax which the taxpayer owes to
the State, the Comptroller may not disclose the
amount in controversy prior to making a final
determination if doing so would indicate the amount
of the taxpayer’s gross sales.
Very truly yours,
Attorney General of Texas
APPROVED:
DAVID M. KENDALL, First Assistant
Opinion Committee
p. 2898