Court of Tax Appeals dismisses Dumex tax refund claim

MANILA, Philippines—The Court of Tax Appeals dismissed the case filed by a corporation asking for a P59.9 million tax refund from the government.

In a 14-page decision promulgated April 3, the CTA third division dismissed the petition filed by Dumex Philippines asking that it be given a refund or a tax credit certificate worth P59,970,799.48.

The said amount, according to Dumex represents unutilized/excess input value added tax on importation of goods and domestic purchases of goods and services in 2007.

The Tax Court said Dumex failed to present a tax clearance from the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) showing that it has settled all its obligations with the BIR upon cessation of its operations.

The Court explained that the purpose of the law “is to insure that no corporation may escape payment of taxes and other liabilities to the government simply by opting to dissolve the corporation and retire from business or reorganize its business.”

“Thus, petitioner’s assertions that nowhere in the law requires that the taxpayer must be cleared of all its tax liabilities in order to be entitled to a refund or issuance of tax credit certificate and that in case any pending tax liabilities should be subject to an assessment and be dealt with separately deserve scant consideration.”

“And based on the records, and as admitted by petitioner (Dumex) that respondent has yet to issue the required Certificate of Tax Clearance, the Court has no option but to deny the present claim,” the Tax Court said.