FPH bucks order to pay P 1.21B in back taxes

Lopez group-led First Philippine Holdings Corp. (FPH) has challenged the Court of Tax Appeals (CTA)’s order for it to pay around P1.21 billion in alleged tax deficiency plus accrued interest.

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange on Friday, FPH maintained that the tax assessments were “without valid basis.”

FPH received on Dec. 20, 2019 the decision from the CTA ordering the payment of P1.21 billion, composed of deficiency taxes, 25-percent surcharge plus 20-percent deficiency and delinquency interest.

On top of the base amount, FPH was likewise ordered to pay delinquency interest of 12 percent on the total unpaid deficiency taxes as of July 15, 2014, computed from Jan. 1, 2018, until fully paid.

FPH was scheduled to file on Friday a motion for reconsideration of the CTA decision, which partially granted FPH’s petition for review.

“It will be contesting the foregoing on factual, due process and legal grounds with respect to the assessments sustained by the CTA,” the company said.On Feb. 20, 2015, FPH also disclosed the filing of a petition for review with the CTA to protest a tax assessment of the Bureau of Internal Revenue for different taxes—including interest and penalties—of around P1.5 billion.

FPH said it did not expect any material effect on its business or operations arising from this case.

In the first nine months of 2019, FPH’s net income attributable to equity holders of the parent firm increased by P2.5 billion, or 35 percent, to P9.6 billion on higher operating income coupled with favorable foreign exchange rates and deferred income tax movements, as well as the decline in nonrecurring expenses incurred by Energy Development Corp. for the return to service of its Leyte plants. INQ