THE COURT of Tax Appeals (CTA) upheld its denial of Lepanto Consolidated Mining Co.’s petition to annul its alleged recess input value-added tax (VAT) worth P18.3 million for 2010.
In a 12-page decision dated Oct. 6 and made public on Oct. 10, the CTA full court said the mining firm failed to raise new arguments in its appeal.
“Accordingly, the court in division correctly dismissed the petition before it for lack of jurisdiction,” according to the ruling penned by Associate Justice Ivy F. Reyes-Fajardo.
The tribunal noted that the CTA Third Division’s previous decision had already reached finality when the current appeal was presented before the court.
It added that the commissioner of internal revenue’s (CIR) inaction on the claim during the 120-day period mandated under law made the tax assessment unappealable.
Under the country’s tax code, when the CIR denies or fails to act on a claim for refund, the taxpayer is given 30 days from the receipt of an adverse decision or ruling to file a petition for review with the CTA.
The commissioner is given 120 days to act on a disputed tax assessment; otherwise, the decision would be final.
Lepanto argued that the deadline for appealing the case should have started after the Bureau of Internal Revenue issued its denial letter.
The tax court disagreed saying the denial letter was also filed beyond the 120-day period.
The firm filed its administrative claim more than 2,000 days after the 30-day period, it added.
“It bears stressing that the right to appeal to the CTA from a decision or ‘deemed a denial’ decision of the CIR is merely a statutory privilege, not a constitutional right,” said the court.
“The exercise of such statutory privilege requires strict compliance with the conditions attached by the statute for its exercise.” — John Victor D. Ordoñez