The BIR's power to obtain information

The Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) recently issued Revenue Memorandum Circular (RMC) 6-2023 dated January 16, 2023. It circularized certain advisory opinions of the National Privacy Commission (NPC) that upheld the BIR's power to obtain personal information/sensitive personal information from any person, national/local government office or officer, government agencies and instrumentalities, and government-owned or controlled corporations for tax enforcement, assessment, and collection purposes.

Personal information refers to that from which the identity of an individual is apparent or can be reasonably and directly ascertained by whoever holds the information or when put together with other information will directly and certainly identify an individual. Sensitive personal information, meanwhile, involves that about an individual's race, ethnic origin, marital status, age, color, religious, philosophical, or political affiliations, health, education, social security numbers, tax returns, etc.