Court of Tax Appeals
0Gtl!Pu&Tuc of, et al. vs. Commissioner of Internal Revenue
Gtl!PU&tUC
OF ;HE
l"tHl!Pf>.NJ"I)
COURT OF TAX: APP£Al..S
QUJ!ZOM
C1 !'V
COMMONWEALTH MANAGEMENT
AND SERVICE CORPORATION,
Petitioner,
-
versus -
COMMISSIONER OF INTERNAL
REVENUE,
Respondent.
C.T.A. CASES NOS . 3383
and 3578
X -
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
X
DEC I SID
The above -c aption e d c a ses are consolidated
by reason of common issue involving the same peti-
tioner on its claims for
efund o{ a lleged over-
payments of income taxes in the amounts of
,.
~84,334.00 and
~100,51 3 .00 for the yeors 1980 and
1981, respectively.
Thus appearing, petitioner, o domestic corpo-
ration, had for the taxable year 1980 the withheld
income taxes from source by its withholding agents
as evidenced by the various BIR Withholding Tax
Certificates (Exhibits "B" to "B-7'') "L1g(]r e gating
the sum of ~84,334.00.
It incur r ed losses , however,
in the net amount of ~8,871.00 os s hown in the
\ •
361
DECISION -
CTA CASES NOS. 3383 & 3578
I "
- 2 - income tax return filed with the resporident on Apr il 15, 198 1. (Exhibit "A") . Petitioner sought •, the refu nd of the total amount withheld as excess inco me tax payment for the year involved, under letter-claim dated September 11, 1981. (Exhibit "C" ) . And , to hedge against th e running of the period of the statute of limitations filed this petition f or review on October 20, 1981 . (CTA Case No . 3383) .
It does appear likewise that petitioner filed i ts income tax return for the year 1981 with the respondent's office on March 15 , 1982 showing a net loss of e2,237.DO.
(Cxhjbits " 8 " and "13-1").
The taxe s withheld from its serv i ce fees income ' evidenced by BIR Withholding Tax Cert ifi cates (Exhibits "A" to "A.-4" , inclu sive) totalled El00,512.D O, now sought in the petitioner's claim for refund under letter dated June 28, 1982. (Exhibits "C" and "C-1" ) .
It filed the instant petiti on for re vie w on Jun e 28, 1982, entitled CTA Case No. 3578 .
It does not appear that respondent Comm i ssioner ~f Internal Revenue disputes the correctness of \ 36 2 .,
DECISION -
CTA CASE S NOS. 3383 & 3578 .· · - 3 - the material facts nor has pre s ented any evid e nce controverting the same.
Respondent po s e s no •.
objection in having the Pases submitted for de ci- sian on the basis of the pleading s and CTA records. All told the material facts are relatively simple and so are the issues under r es olve es s en- tially addressed to the qu e stion o f whe ther or not petitioner has establi s hed a valid claim to the refund of excess income ta x paymen t s fo r the taxable years in question.
The cases before Us hardly pres e nt a uripping question or require a tortured ratiocination. As thus shown the basis for the claims are not short of specific support in terms of t r act able data openly laid and fully disclosed • . Going by the records, petitioner's income tax returns for the subject taxable years have shown lo ss es an d exce s s income tax payments.
R e s p o n cl e n t p o i n t s t o n o ,_ factual errors nor superfluities wh ic h need be abridged.
Neither were there any deficien c y assessments issued.
Moreover, the r ec ords make ~t clear that the requi s ite st a tem e nts or certi- fications of the income ta xes withheld and deduct ed \
DECI SION -
CTA CASE S NOS.
3383 & 3 5 7 El
, .
- 4 - by th e withholding a g e nt s through whi c h re s po nd e nt collected the income tax es , an d u pon whi ch t ac ked the claim e d refund could furni s h th e bas i s f u r a definite resolve.
But official act i o n thereon appears consigned to a limbo of linq e ri ng ve rifi- cation, to dateL We s e e no re a son and none i s vou c h s af ed wh y thes e sim ple c as e s wh e r e f act a n d Fa br ica t ion are no longer indisti.n ~Jui s h a b Jc , Ghould r enw in c u r iou s l y unperturbed , It may be neces s ary to r ep eat wha t this Court said in what s o pl a inly app l y to th e cases at bar that, 11 But. as sho uld b e expe c te d, th e action could be maintained on t he bas i s of t h e r pleadings, admi s sion and affi davit of the pa r t ies which neither provok e s any un s ettling qu es ti o n~ nor involves material factual i ss ues ue nuine ly in dispute.
The administrativ e mac h i nery or pr ocess employed on the right to the c laim s e ems to h a.v e .moved bar e ly at idling speed, To be r e latively q u i e s c e n t f o r so me f o u r ( 4 ) y e 3 r s o n a c l a i n1 o f such a simple nature and no t s o c ons id e r a ble a ~take which no longer i ncit es controv ers y nor excites a queasy sense of ex pe c t a ti on , c r ea t es \ 364 ----
DEClSION -
CTA CASES NOS. 3383 & 3578 , .
- 5 - but an unwarranted bureaucratic inertia of inaction. Readily a legal conclusion can be safely reached. Petitioner or any similarly circumstanced taxpayer for that matter deserves a measure of fair dealing in a more expeditious a nd competently responsive action.
(Commonwealth Pacific Consultants, Lt d ., v . Commissioner of Internal Revenue, CTA Case No . 2 9 5 3 , t~ a y 1 5 , 1 9 8 2 ) , " c i. t c c1 i n D a t 8 p r c p ( P h i 1 s • ) Inc. v , Commis~:;ioner of Ir,L.ernnl Hcvcnue, ClA C<1ue No . 3600 , March 30, 1984; nppeul v1il:hdrawn, C.rt . L-67735, Se pt ember 12, 1984.
The circumstances obtaining in the cases at bar of the mold no different from the aforccited , cases compel Us to sustain the tenability of the petitioner's right to the refund bRsed on t he pleadings and records.
WHEREFORE, respond ent is hereby ordered to refund to the petitioner the amounts of !84 , ~~4.00 (CTA Case No . 3383) and el00,237.00 (CTA Case No. 3578), without pronouncement as to costs. \ 365
DLC IiSTan
CTA CASES NOS. 33563 & 357% 5G URBCRED.
Guezon City, Metro Manala, June 30, i987,
WE CONCUR:
en K+) ) AMANTE fe TLLER
Presiding Judge
on " mm TANTE &. RGAQUIN foes Judae 360