The Court of Tax Appeals (CTA) has ordered The Table Group, Inc. to pay the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) P328.6 million in adjusted tax assessments for taxable year 2018 and the deficiency registration fees of P32,500 and deficiency compromise penalty of P280,000.

The Table Group, represented by Walden Chu, was engaged in the manufacture and sale of all kinds of coffee, tea, cocoa, and other food and beverages.

It filed a petition for review and assailed the BIR's Final Decision on Disputed Assessment (FDDA) dated Jan. 26, 2023, which demanded that it pay P834,707,050.26 in income tax (IT), value-added tax (VAT), expanded withholding tax (EWT), final withholding VAT (FWVAT), documentary stamp tax (DST), registration fee, capital gains tax (CGT), and compromise penalty for taxable year 2018.

It told the tax court that the FDDA should be set aside and cancelled since the BIR erroneously applied the provision of "deemed sale" under Section 106(B) of the National Internal Revenue Code (NIRC) of 1997, as amended, to its inventories, unissued property, equipment, and office units when it reportedly changed its line of business.

The BIR had earlier ruled that The Table Group failed to overturn the presumption of correctness and validity of assessment.

The CTA resolved the issue in favor of the BIR. It said: "Verily, all presumptions are in favor of the correctness of a tax assessment. It is to be presumed, however, that such assessment is based on sufficient evidence. Upon the introduction of the assessment in evidence, a prima facie case of liability on the part of the taxpayer is made."

"If a taxpayer files a petition for review in the CTA and assails the assessment, the prima facie presumption is that the assessment made by the BIR is correct, and that in preparing the same, the BIR personnel regularly performed their duties," the tax court added.

The 58-page decision was written by Associate Justice Jean Marie A. Bacorro-Villena with the concurrence of Associate Justice Lanee S. Cui-David.