The Court of Tax Appeals (CTA) has scrapped the P78-million deficiency tax assessment slapped by the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) against a major supplier of commercial kitchen equipment for failure of the former to indicate in the assessment notices when the liabilities should be paid.

The court's second division stated that the due dates for the payment of deficiency taxes were not indicated in separate notices sent to Fabtech Kitchens Unlimited Inc. of Magallanes Commercial Center, Makati City.

It said the space for the due date for the payment of deficiency income, value-added and improperly accumulated earnings taxes for 2012 was left blank.

The BIR argued that the court has not acquired jurisdiction over the case since the assessment was already final and executory.

However, the CTA said that "The requirement to indicate in the final assessment notice the fixed period within which a taxpayer must pay the assessed deficiency tax liabilities is indispensable to the validity of the assessment."

It added that an assessment without a categorical demand for payment within a specific date is void.

The resolution written by Presiding Justice Roman G. Del Rosario stated that a final assessment notice must not only indicate the legal and factual bases of the assessment, but also a demand for the payment of the liabilities within a specific period as mandated by Revenue Regulations No. 18-2013.