AmerisourceBergen Sourcing, LLC v. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania

Summary

The Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court granted AmerisourceBergen Sourcing, LLC’s application for relief concerning the disclosure of tax amounts in detailed status reports filed in consolidated appeals from Board of Finance and Revenue orders. The court held that, although the tax statutes’ official-purposes exception may permit disclosure, the better practice was to withhold the amount of tax at issue from public disclosure before factual development or litigation becomes necessary. The court directed the Commonwealth to refile redacted and unredacted status reports.

Holdings

1. The amounts of tax at issue, having been obtained from AmerisourceBergen's corporate tax reports, assessments, and assessment appeals, fall within the broad confidentiality protections of Sections 731 of The Fiscal Code and 274 and 408(b) of the Tax Reform Code of 1971, subject to the statutes' official-purposes exceptions.
2. The Commonwealth's disclosure of the tax amounts in the initial status reports was involuntary because it was made at the specific direction of the Court. The Court did not decide that only involuntary disclosures qualify as official purposes, but held that the disclosure was involuntary in these circumstances.
3. Even though the Court did not determine that necessity is legally required for the official-purposes exception, the better practice is to withhold public disclosure of the amount of tax at issue until the appeal is ripe for factual development or litigation.
4. The amount of tax at issue is not categorically confidential for the entire pendency of an appeal. If the matters proceed to factual development through stipulated facts or an evidentiary hearing, disclosure may become necessary for adjudication.

Questions Presented

1. Whether the amounts of tax at issue in appeals from Board of Finance and Revenue orders constitute confidential taxpayer information under Sections 731 of The Fiscal Code and 274 and 408(b) of the Tax Reform Code of 1971.
2. Whether the statutory official-purposes exception permits the Commonwealth to disclose the amounts of tax at issue in initial detailed status reports filed pursuant to the Court's orders.
3. Whether the Court should withhold public disclosure of the tax amounts until the appeals reach the factual-development or litigation stage, balancing statutory confidentiality interests against the presumption of openness.

Disposition

other