Court of Tax Appeals
0/ Tokyo Shipping Co. Ltd., Inc. vs. - the Commissioner of' Internal Revenue
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/ TOKYO SHIPPING CO. LTD.,
represented by Soriamont
Steamship Agencies., Inc.,
Petitioner,
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versus; -
THE COMMISSIONER OF' INTERNAL
REVENUE,
Respondent.
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C.T.A. CASE NO. 3260
D E C I S I 0 N
An action to enforce a claim for refund or tax
credit of amounts representing~epayments of income
and c:ommon carrier's: taxes pursuant to the pertinent
provis ions of the Tax Code based on gross receipts
expected from a venture which une}<".pectedly failed to
materialize.
As it appears 1) .Petitioner for.eign c·orporation
represented in the Philippines by the Soriamont
Steamship Agencies, I nc . owns and operates tramper
vessel H/V "Gardenia" then scheduled to call at the
Port of Iloilo , Philippines on the early part of
Dec:e·mber, 1980 to load some 16,500 metric tons of
raw sugar; 2) .on an expected gross receipts to be
derived from the char:ter: petitioner filed the
required revenue returns for income as well as
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DECI SION -
CTA CASE NO. 3260
'
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2 -
common carr.i e x:' s t .axes for the month of December, 1980
(Exhs. "A" and "B " ) .and paid the r.es:pective sums of
~59,523> . 75 (Exhs. "A-1", "A-2" and "A-3.") _and ~47 ,619. 00
(Exhs . "B-1" , "B-2" and "B-l'') on December 23i, 1980;
3) the trampe r vessel M/V "Gardenia" did arrive on
December 24, 1980 but found none of the merchandise
of r aw su9ar a~ailable and ready for loading and
eventually s.ailed on January 10, 1981 for. Japan without.
any car. go laden on board (Exhs.
11 E
11 and "F") .as such
no receipts whatever were realized from the chartered
unde rtaking, hence, making the prepayments of the
taxes nugatory ; and thus 4) _precipitated peti tioner's
fi l ing a wxitte n claim for r efund or tax credit there-
for in the: total sum of Pl07,14.2.75 with r espondent
Comm i ss i oner of Internal Revenue on March 20,
1 981 ~
and subsequent!~' 5) _instituted the: ins.tant petition
with this Court on May 14 , 1981.
Viewing the action with insouciant skepticism
respondent interposed the usual token of defenses
that 1) taxes are presumed to have been collected in
accordance with law; 2) .the burden of proof r e s ts
upon petitione r to show enti tlement to the re f und
sought ~ and l) .(;ompl iance wi th the requisites pres-
cribed under Se~ t ions 292 and 295 both of the Tax
Code of 1977, as amended, relative to the recovery
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)
DECISION -
CTA CASE ~0. 3260 - 3 - of erroneously or illegally collected taxes. It has b"een shown in this case that 1) _t he petitioner has compl i ed with the mentioned statutory r equirement by ha ~ ing filed a writte n claim for refund wi thin the two-year period from date of payment; 2) _the respondent has not issued any def iciency assessment nor disputed the correctness of the tax returns and the corresponding amounts of prepa id income and percentage taxes; a nd l ) the cha r ter ed vessel s ailed out of the Philippine por t with absolute ly no cargo laden on board as cleared and c e rtified by the Customs authorities; nonethel ess 4) respondent's apparent bit of reluctance in validating the legal merit of the claim, by and large, is tacked upon the ''examiner who is investigating peti tioner's claim for refund which is the subject matter of t his case has not yet s ubm i tted his report.
Whe ther o r not respondent wil l prese n t his evidence wil l depend o n the sa i d report of the exuminer."
(Responden t 's Manifestation and Motion dated Septembe r 7, 1982) ~ Be that as i t may the case was submitte d for decision by re s pondent on the bnsis of the pleadings and recor ds and by petitioner on the evidence presented by counse l sans • the respecti'ife memo randum.
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DECI SION -
CTA CASE NO. 32GO - 4 - An examination of the recor ds s at i sf i es us that t he c ase presents no dispute as to relative ly simple material facts.
The circumstances obta i ni ng amply j us t ify petitioner's righteous indignation t o a more expeditious action.
Respondent has offered no reason nor made effort to submit any controver t ing documents to ba sh that patina of legitimacy OV€I the claim. But as might well be, towards the end of some two and a half years of seemin91 impotent anguish over the pendency, the respondent Commissioner of Internal Revenue would furni s h the s atisfaction of ultimate solution by mani fest ing that "it is now his turn to pre·sent evidence, however, the Appellate Division of the BIR has already recommended the approval of petitioner' s claim for refund s ubject matter of this petition. The examine r who examined this case has also recommended the refund of petitioner's claim.
Without prejudice to with- drawing this c ase after the final approval of peti- tioner's cla i m the Court ordered the resetting to September 7 , 1983."
~1inutes of June 9, 1983 Session of the Court)~ We need not fashion any further issue into an apparently settled legal si tuation as far be it f rom a comedy of errors it would be too much of a stretc h to hold and deny the refund of the amount of pr epa i d income and common carrier's taxes for which
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DECISION -
CTA CASE . NO. 3260 - 5 - petitioner could no longer be made accountable.
It
may be neces~ary to repeat what this Court held and what so plainly a pp l y to t he case at bar , that- "But as s hould be expected the action could be maintained on the basis of the pleadings , admission and affidavit of the pa r ties which neither provok e s any unsettling questions nor involves material factual issue genuinely in dispute. The administra t ive machinery or process employed on the right to claim see ms to have moved barely at idling speed.
To be relatively quiescent for some four (4) years on a claim of such a simple · nature and not so considerable a stake which no longer inc ites controversy nor excites a queasy sense of expectation , creates but an unwarranted bureacratic inertia of inaction .
Readily, a legal conclusion can be safely reached . Petitioner or any similarly cir- cumstanced taxpayer for that matter deserves a measure of fair dealing in a more expeditious and competently responsive act ion."
(Commonwealth
Pacific Consultants, Ltd. v . Commis- sioner of Inte r nal Revenue, CTA Ca se No. 2953 , May 15, 1982) ~
WHEREFORE, we are persuaded to extend the relief sought by the petitioner to the refund of income and percenta9e tax prepayments in the total sum of ~107,142.75 as a matter of law which respondent is hereby ordered to pay without pronouncement a~ to costs .
DECISION -_
CTA CASE NO. 3260
SO ORDERED.
Quezon City, Metro Manila, September 15, 1983.
Ce (Ree >
e REYES
-~ Associate Judge
WE CONCUR:
ssociate Judge 206