Does a city Bureau of Vital Statistics have to charge sales tax when it sells summary lists of births in response to verbal open-records requests?

Plain-English summary

A city's Bureau of Vital Statistics asked the Texas Comptroller whether it owed sales tax on summary lists of births that it sold to requesters. The office noted that the requests for these lists were made verbally rather than in writing, but it still treated them as falling under the Texas Open Records Act, and pointed to Open Records Decision No. 486 (issued by then-Attorney General Jim Mattox), which found that these kinds of records kept by a local registration official were not barred from release as open records.

The Comptroller agreed that the sales were exempt from sales tax. The ruling relies on 34 Tex. Admin. Code Rule 3.341(a), "Sales of Governmental Publications, Records, or Documents," which says that when a governmental body is required under the Open Records Act to furnish a copy of a document it holds, that transaction is not a taxable sale. Sales tax does not apply to any fee charged for furnishing one copy, regardless of whether the copy is certified or how the fee was set (by statute, ordinance, public official, or the state purchasing and general services commission).

Importantly, the ruling did not turn on whether the request was written or verbal — what mattered was that the office was legally required to produce the record under the Open Records Act.

What this means for you

Government records custodians

If your office is legally obligated under the Texas Open Records Act to furnish a copy of a document you hold, charging a fee for that copy does not trigger sales tax — even if the request comes in verbally instead of in writing. The exemption is tied to the legal duty to disclose, not to the format of the request.

Accountants and tax professionals advising government entities

This ruling is a straightforward application of Rule 3.341(a): fees for copies of records a governmental body must furnish under open-records law are not "sales" for sales tax purposes. If you're advising a public agency on whether to charge tax on record-copy fees, confirm first whether the underlying disclosure is legally required (as opposed to a discretionary, negotiated, or specially compiled product), since that legal-duty framing is what drove the exempt result here.

Businesses or individuals requesting government records

Don't expect to see sales tax added to a fee for a single copy of a public record that the agency is required to release under open-records law — Texas treats that fee as outside the sales tax base.

Common questions

Q: Does it matter that the request for birth records was made verbally instead of in writing?
A: No. The Comptroller's ruling did not condition the exemption on the request being written. What mattered was that the agency was required under the Texas Open Records Act to furnish the record.

Q: Does the exemption cover certified copies too?
A: Yes. Rule 3.341(a) as quoted in the ruling states it "makes no difference whether the copy is certified or the fee established by statute, ordinance, public official or the state purchasing and general services commission."

Q: Does this exemption apply to any fee a government office charges for records?
A: Only where the governmental body is required, under the Open Records Act, to furnish the copy, and only for one copy. The ruling is limited to that specific situation and the facts presented.

Q: Can other government offices rely on this letter for their own records sales?
A: Not directly. Under STAR's rules, letter rulings can only be relied on by the taxpayer who received them, and this opinion is expressly based on the facts presented — "other facts, though similar, may yield different results."

Citations and references

• 34 Tex. Admin. Code Rule 3.341(a), "Sales of Governmental Publications, Records, or Documents"
• Texas Open Records Act
• Open Records Decision No. 486 (Attorney General Jim Mattox)

Source

• STAR search: https://star.comptroller.texas.gov/search?doc_type_code=L&tax_type_code=SST
• Opinion: https://star.comptroller.texas.gov/view/9207L1184E13

Original ruling text

July 30, 1992

Dear **:

Thank you for your recent letter regarding the taxability of summary lists of
births sold by the Bureau of Vital Statistics of the City of **. You
said that while the requests were verbal rather than in writing, you considered
them to be under the Texas Open Records Act. You also included a copy of Open
Records Decision No. 486 by Attorney General Jim Mattox in which such records
maintained by a local registration official were not prohibited from being
released as open records.

I agree that the sale of summary lists of births sold by the Bureau of Vital
Statistics of the City of ** is exempt from sales tax under
subsection (a) of Rule 3.341 "Sales of Governmental Publications, Records, or
Documents.

(a) When a governmental body is required, under the open records act, to
furnish a copy of any document held by it, the transaction is not considered
the sale of a taxable item. Sales tax is not due on any fee charged by the
governmental body for furnishing one copy. It makes no difference whether the
copy is certified or the fee established by statute, ordinance, public official
or the state purchasing and general services commission.

This opinion is based on the facts you presented. Other facts, though similar,
may yield different results.

If you have questions or need more information, please call or write. You may
reach me by calling toll free, (800) 531-5441. My direct line number is (512)
463-4680. The number for FAX transmissions is (512) 475-0900. You may write to
me in care of Tax Administration Division.

Sincerely,

Al Van Allen
Tax Administration Division