The Court of Tax Appeals (CTA) has instructed Smart Communication to present to the Makati City government its income earned nationwide to determine the correctness of the latter's presumptive franchise tax deficiency assessment of more than P3 billion.
The Court en banc issued the order as it affirmed the separate resolutions of the Regional Trial Court of Makati and the tax court's division allowing the local government to subpoena and review the financial records of the Makati-based telecommunication company.
Smart argued that the Makati treasurer's office has no jurisdiction to audit its financial operations outside the city, adding it had presented all records concerning its operations in the city and paid the corresponding taxes.
But the court said the local government has the power to look into the whole operations of the company as provided under the Local Government Code.
This way, Associate Justice Marian Ivy F. Reyes-Fajardo, who wrote the 17-page verdict, stated that the local government can accurately determine the tax liabilities of the taxpayer.
The treasurer's office of Makati placed the initial deficiency tax assessment at P3.2 billion for the years 2012 to 2015.