The Court of Tax Appeals (CTA) has affirmed the decision of the Bureau of Customs (BOC) to confiscate 18 imported sports cars and service utility vehicles (SUVs) for violation of the tariff and internal revenue laws.
In a 53-page decision, the court's Special Second Division stated that Gamma Gray Marketing (GGA) of Anda Circle Port Area, Manila deliberately undervalued the value of importations as evidenced by the findings of the BOC's import assessment service (IAS).
CTA Associate Justice Jean Marie A. Bacorro-Villenna, who penned the resolution, also said the petitioner did not secure a permit from the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) to engage in vehicle importation as required by Revenue Regulations 25-2003 before bringing in the cars.
Court records showed GGA imported separately the vehicles from the United States, Hong Kong and the United Arab Emirates, and paid the custom duties based on the prices declared by the sellers.
But the court said the prices were much below the valuation schedule of the IAS for purposes of collecting the appropriate custom duties, ad valorem and value-added taxes.
For one, it cited the declared values of McLaren 720S at $83, 910 and Range Rover, $29,964 against the IAS reference values of $314,278 and $51,000 respectively.