CTA denies P8.4-M tax refund sought by agri firm
The Court of Tax Appeals (CTA) has denied the P8.4 million tax refund sought by an agricultural firm from the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR).
Denied was the petition filed by MD Rio Vista Agri-Ventures, a corporation based in Compostela Valley province and is primarily engaged in developing, managing, owning, leasing and operating agricultural lands, farms, pasture lands, ranches and fishponds, as well as in planting and cultivation of cavendish bananas and other farm products.
“Upon review of the evidence offered by the parties, We find that petitioner (MD Rio Vista) failed to comply with the requisites and is thus not entitled to the refund of input VAT (value added tax),” stated the decision written by the CTA's second division by Associate Justice Maria Rowena Modesto-San Pedro.
MD Rio Vista sought the reversal of the BIR's decision that denied the firm's VAT refund application of P8,419,891.77 for taxable year of 2019.
The CTA cited that among the requirements to get the refund, the fifth requisite requires that “those zero-rated sales falling under Sections 106 (A)(2)(a)(J) and (2), and 108 (B) (I) and (2) thereof must be paid for in acceptable foreign currency and accounted for in accordance with the rules and regulations of the BSP (Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas).”
“In sum, petitioner failed to fulfill the fifth requisite for the successful prosecution of the instant refund claim,” it ruled.
While the firm presented certificates of remittances allegedly showing foreign currency inward remittances of its clients, the CTA said “the Court cannot ascertain whether the amounts reflected therein correspond to the zero-rated sales subject of the instant claim.”
“Thus, in the absence of an itemized list or even an identification of the corresponding remittance numbers in the schedule of zero-rated sales, there is no way for the Court to determine whether the payment for the zero-rated sales of P494,904,189.24 were indeed ‘accounted for in accordance with the rules and regulations of the BSP,'" the court pointed out.