The Court of Tax Appeals (CTA) has denied the “prematurely filed” petition of Bioenergy 8 Corporation seeking the cancellation of its alleged P527.5 million deficiency taxes assessed for taxable year 2012 by the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR).

Bioenergy 8, a Davao City-based firm which manufactures vegetable methyl ester additives and other biofuel products, received on Sept. 21, 2015 a Preliminary Assessment Notice (PAN) with Details of Discrepancies informing it of its alleged income tax (IT), value added tax (VAT), and expanded withholding tax (EWT) deficiencies amounting to P527,578,169.17.

On Feb. 28, 2020, Bioenergy 8 filed a petition before the CTA challenging the assessment for alleged lack of factual and legal bases.

The BIR opposed the petition as it pointed out the administrative appeal of Bioenergy 8 was still pending before the office of the Commissioner of Internal Revenue (CIR) at the time the firm elevated the issue before the CTA.

Ruling in favor of BIR, the CTA’s third division said that Bioenergy 8's petition was bereft of merit as it was "premature," so its judicial appeal "has no leg to stand on."

"Tersely put, there is still no decision reviewable before this Court. If anything, petitioner's only recourse would be to await respondent's (BIR) final decision on its administrative appeal," the CTA said.

"In thus losing our authority to review the subject deficiency tax assessment, this Court sees no relevant need to further tackle the parties' other issues as these will not change the outcome of the case," it also said.

The 39-page decision was written by Associate Justice Jean Marie A. Bacorro-Villena with the concurrence of Associate Justice Lanee S. Cui-David.