Facts: Private respondent is a foreign corporation represented in the Philippines by Soriamont Steamship Agencies, Inc. It owns and operates tramper vessel M/V Gardenia. In December 1980, NASUTRA chartered M/V Gardenia to load 16,500 metric tons of raw sugar in the Philippines. On December 23, 1980 Mr. Edilberto Lising, the operations supervisor of Soriamont Agency, paid the required income and common carrier’s taxes in the sum total of P107,142.75 based on the expected gross receipts of the vessel. Upon arriving, however, at Guimaras Port of Iloilo, the vessel found no sugar for loading. On January 10, 1981, NASUTRA and private respondent’s agent mutually agreed to have the vessel sail for Japan without any cargo.
Claiming the pre-payment of income and common carrier’s taxes as erroneous since no receipt was realized from the charter agreement private respondent instituted a claim for tax credit or refund of the sum of P107,142,75 before petitioner commissioner of Internal Revenue on March 23, 1981. Petitioner failed to act promptly on the claim, hence, on May 14, 1981, private respondent filed a petition for review before public respondent CTA.
Petitioner contested the petition. As special and affirmative defenses, it alleged the following: that taxes are presumed to have been collected in accordance with law; that in an action for refund, the burden of proof is upon the taxpayer to show that taxes are erroneously or illegally collected and the taxpayer’s failure to sustain said burden is fatal to the action for refund; and that claims for refund are construed strictly against tax claimants.
After trial, respondent tax court decided in favor of the private respondent.
Issue: Whether or not tax claimants has the burden of proof to support its claim of refund.
Held: A claim for refund is in the nature of a claim for exemption and should be construed in strictissimi juris against the taxpayer. Likewise, there can be no disagreement with petitioner’s stance that private respondent has the burden of proof to establish the factual basis of its claim for tax refund.
0 comments:
Post a Comment