Case Digest: Team Energy Corporation vs CIR

TEAM ENERGY CORPORATION (Formerly MIRANT PAGBILAO CORPORATION), Petitioner, v. 

COMMISSIONER OF INTERNAL REVENUE, Respondent.

G.R. No. 197760               January 13, 2014

PONENTE: Peralta

FACTS:

                Team Energy Corporation is principally engaged in the business of power generation and subsequent sale thereof to the National Power Corporation (NPC) under a Build, Operate, Transfer (BOT) scheme. As such, it is registered with the BIR as a VAT taxpayer.

                On December 17, 2004, petitioner filed an Application for VAT Zero-Rate for the supply of electricity to the NPC from January 1, 2005 to December 31, 2005, which was subsequently approved.

                Petitioner filed with the BIR its Quarterly VAT Returns for the first three quarters of 2005 on April 25, 2005, July 26, 2005, and October 25, 2005, respectively. Likewise, petitioner filed its Monthly VAT Declaration for the month of October 2005 on November 21, 2005, which was subsequently amended on May 24, 2006.

                On December 20, 2006, petitioner filed an administrative claim for cash refund or issuance of tax credit certificate corresponding to the input VAT reported in its Quarterly VAT Returns for the first three quarters of 2005 and Monthly VAT Declaration for October 2005 in the amount of P80,136,251.60.

                Due to respondent’s inaction on its claim, petitioner filed the instant Petition for Review before the CTA on April 18, 2007.

                On July 13, 2010, the CTA Special First Division partially granted petitioner’s claim for refund or issuance of tax credit certificate. On November 26, 2010, the CTA Special First Division rendered an Amended Decision granting respondent’s Motion for Reconsideration in light of the Aichi ruling.   

ISSUE:

                Whether or not the judicial claims were filed on time.

HELD:

PARTLY. In case of full or partial denial of the claim for tax refund or tax credit, or the failure on the part of the Commissioner to act on the application within the period prescribed above, the taxpayer affected may, within thirty (30) days from the receipt of the decision denying the claim or after the expiration of the one hundred twenty day-period, appeal the decision or the unacted claim with the Court of Tax Appeals.

                From the foregoing, it is clear that a VAT-registered taxpayer claiming for refund or tax credit of their excess and unutilized input VAT must file their administrative claim within two years from the close of the taxable quarter when the sales were made. After that, the taxpayer must await the decision or ruling of denial of its claim, whether full or partial, or the expiration of the 120-day period from the submission of complete documents in support of such claim. Once the taxpayer receives the decision or ruling of denial or expiration of the 120-day period, it may file its petition for review with the CTA within thirty (30) days.

                In the Aichi case, this Court ruled that the 120-30-day period in Section 112 (C) of the NIRC is mandatory and its non-observance is fatal to the filing of a judicial claim with the CTA. In this case, the Court explained that if after the 120-day mandatory period, the Commissioner of Internal Revenue (CIR) fails to act on the application for tax refund or credit, the remedy of the taxpayer is to appeal the inaction of the CIR to the CTA within thirty (30) days. The judicial claim, therefore, need not be filed within the two-year prescriptive period but has to be filed within the required 30-day period after the expiration of the 120 days.

Two scenarios envisioned by the NIRC:

1. When a decision is issued by the CIR before the lapse of the 120-day period; and
2. When no decision is made after the 120-day period.

• Note: In both instances, the taxpayer has 30 days within which to file an appeal with the CTA.

Exemption to the 120-30 day rule

                Recently, however, in the case of Commissioner of Internal Revenue v. San Roque Power Corporation (San Roque), the Court clarified that the mandatory and jurisdictional nature of the 120-30-day rule does not apply on claims for refund that were prematurely filed during the interim period from the issuance of Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) Ruling No. DA-489-03 on December 10, 2003 to October 6, 2010 when the Aichi doctrine was adopted. The exemption was premised on the fact that prior to the promulgation of the Aichi decision, there was an existing interpretation laid down in BIR Ruling No. DA-489-03 where the BIR expressly ruled that the taxpayer need not wait for the expiration of the 120-day period before it could seek judicial relief with the CTA.

                In the present case, petitioner filed its judicial claim on April 18, 2007 or after the issuance of BIR Ruling No. DA-489-03 on December 10, 2003 but before October 6, 2010, the date when the Aichi case was promulgated. Thus, even though petitioners judicial claim was prematurely filed without waiting for the expiration of the 120-day mandatory period, the CTA may still take cognizance of the instant case as it was filed within the period exempted from the 120-30-day mandatory period.

FALLO:

                WHEREFORE, the foregoing considered, the instant Petition for Review on Certiorari is hereby GRANTED. The May 2, 2011 and the July 15, 2011 Resolutions of the Court of Tax Appeals En Banc in CTA EB Case No. 706 are REVERSED and SET ASIDE. Let this case be remanded to the Court of Tax Appeals for the proper determination of the refundable amount.