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CTA junks P31.7M tax refund claimed by Philippine Vending Corp.
CTA junks P31.7M tax refund claimed by Philippine Vending Corp.
The Court of Tax Appeals (CTA) has denied for lack of merit the petition filed by the Philippine Vending Corporation, Inc. which sought a P31.77 million tax refund from the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR).
Philippine Vending sought the refund for taxes paid for its importation of goods, domestic purchases of services, and purchases of capital goods allegedly attributable to zero-rated transactions for 2016.
The BIR denied the claim for refund with a ruling that the firm failed to submit complete supporting documents upon submission of its administrative claim.
Philippine Vending, on the other hand, alleged that it has complied with all the requisites for the refund.
With the denial of its claim, the firm elevated the issue before the CTA.
In denying the claim for refund, the CTA’s special third division agreed with the BIR that Philippine Vending failed to substantiate its alleged ze-rated sale of goods.
The tax court said that Philippine Vending, instead of presenting a list of Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) registered enterprises as of May 31, 2016, it should have presented PEZA certifications.
"The aforesaid 2016 PEZA List has no probative value," the CTA said. "In this case, petitioner (Philippine Vending) did not present any official publication or attestation from any PEZA officer having legal custody over the said records who can certify that the said list is correct and accurate," the court said.
At the same time, the court pointed out that the list was only for the period of ending May 31, 2016 and not for the entire calendar year of 2016, which was the year petitioner supposedly made its sales.
"Clearly, the documentary evidence presented by petitioner to substantiate its allegedly zero-rated sale of goods to those entities not duly supported by PEZA Certifications cannot be accorded VAT-zero rating," the CTA ruled.
The 37-page decision dated Jan. 18 was written by Associate Justice Corazon G. Ferrer-Flores with the concurrence of Associate Justices Ma. Belen M. Ringpis-Liban and Maria Rowena Modesto-San Pedro.