SUMMARY
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MANILA, Philippines – The Supreme Court rejected a petition by tycoon Lucio Tan’s Fortune Tobacco Corporation for a tax refund of P219 million ($4.687 million).
The refund was to cover to alleged overpaid excise tax by Fortune Tobacco between the period of June 1 to December 31, 2004.
The SC Second Division held that Fortune Tobacco failed to produce the necessary documents to prove its claim for tax refund.
The High Court pointed out that that Fortune Tobacco failed to not only comply with the basic procedural requirement of presenting only the original copies of its documentary evidence, but also did not meet the requirement to properly make its offer of proof or tender of excluded evidence for proper consideration of SC.
It also noted that the petition relied heavily on photocopied documents to prove its claim.
“Indeed, while it is true that litigation is not a game of technicalities – it is equally true, however, that every case must be established in accordance with the prescribed procedure to ensure an orderly and speedy administration of justice,” the SC stressed.
“In all, the (Supreme) Court finds that the failure of petitioner to prove its claim in accordance with the settled rules merits its dismissal,” it added.
Tax refund claim
Fortune Tobacco filed a claim for tax credit or refund on March 31, 2015 under Section 229 of the National Internal Revenue Code (NIRC) of 1997 against the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) for illegally collecting the P219 million excise tax.
Prior to the SC ruling, Fortune Tobacco brought the case to the Court of Tax Appeals (CTA).
Following a trial, the former First Division of the CTA denied the petition for tax refund on April 30, 2009 for insufficiency of evidence.
Fortune Tobacco then took the step of elevating the case before the CTA en banc which also denied its claim.
In upholding the CTA ruling, the SC declared that the “one who claims that he is entitled to a tax refund must not only claim that the transaction subject of tax is clearly and unequivocally not subject to tax – the amount of the claim must still be proven in the normal course, in accordance with the prescribed rules on evidence.” – Rappler.com
$1 = P 46.72
Vintage gavel image from Shutterstock
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