The Court of Tax Appeals (CTA) has affirmed the dismissal of the case filed against a businessman who was accused of non-payment of taxes amounting to P2.4 million.
Faivo Pascual Bartolome, owner of Dashma Computer Systems and Services and Ilocostop Convenience Stores, was initially charged with violation of Section 255 of the 1997 National Internal Revenue Code (NIRC) on Dec. 5, 2022.
The charge sheet stated that Bartolome failed to pay deficiency value added tax (VAT) worth P2,437,154.63 despite the receipt of the Preliminary Assessment Notice (PAN) with details the discrepancies on Dec. 14, 2015 as well as the Formal Letter of Demand (FLD) and Final Assessment Notice (FAN) on Jan. 5, 2016.
In a resolution dated Aug. 9, 2023, the CTA's first division dismissed the case against him on the ground of prescription because the criminal complaint against Bartolome was filed beyond the five-year prescriptive period provided by law.
State prosecutors argued against the dismissal. While prosecutors did not dispute the findings of facts of the CTA's first division, they disagreed with the date when the five-year prescriptive period of criminal tax cases is suspended or interrupted.
The prosecutors maintained that the criminal action was deemed instituted when the complaint for preliminary investigation was filed with the Department of Justice (DOJ) and not with the court.
However, the CTA as full court (en banc) disagreed. It stressed that the five-year prescriptive period shall commence to run on "the day of the commission of the violation of the law."
"Records show that the filing of the Information against the accused was filed in Court only on Dec. 5, 2022 which is beyond the five-year prescriptive period provided under Section 281 of the 1997 NIRC, as amended, and implemented by Section 2, Rule 9 of the RRTCA (Revised Rules of the Court of Tax Appeals), as amended. The Court in Division correctly dismissed the criminal case due to prescription," the decision stated.
The 13-page decision was written by Associate Justice Catherine T. Manahan with the concurrence of Presiding Justice Roman G. Del Rosario and Associate Justices Ma. Belen M. Ringpis-Liban, Jean Marie A. Bacorro-Villena, Maria Rowena Modesto-San Pedro, Marian Ivy F. Reyes-Fajardo, Lanee S. Cui-David, Corazon G. Ferrer-Flores, and Henry S. Angeles.