Member Article

The primary issue in the three (3) consolidated cases involving San Roque Power, Taganito Mining and Philex Mining decided last February 12, 2013 revolves around the proper period for filing the judicial claim for refund or credit of creditable input tax. Under Section 112(A) and 112(C) of the Tax Code, a taxpayer whose sales are zero-rated or effectively zero-rated can file his administrative claim for refund or credit at anytime within two (2) years after the taxable quarter when the sales were made and, after full or partial denial of the claim or failure of the Commissioner to act on his application within 120 days from submission of the same, he may, within 30 days from receipt of the decision denying the claim or after the expiration of the 120-day period, file his judicial claim with the CTA.

These cases all involved the timely filing by the taxpayers of their administrative claims with the Commissioner of Internal Revenue. However, San Roque and Taganito both prematurely filed their judicial claims without waiting for the 120-day period (for the Commissioner to act on their administrative claims) to lapse, whereas Philex was a case of late filing since it did not file its judicial claim until after 426 days beyond the 120 + 30 day periods. Voting 9 to 6, the majority, in a decision penned by Justice Carpio, denied tax refund or credit to San Roque and Philex, but granted the same to Taganito.

The majority denied refund to San Roque on the basis, among others, that the waiting period for filing a judicial claim is mandatory and jurisdictional and has been in the Tax Code for more than 15 years before San Roque filed its judicial claim in April 10, 2003 (barely 13 days after it filed its administrative claim). The majority, however, granted refund to Taganito who, although like San Roque filed its judicial claim without waiting for the 120-day period to lapse, was deemed to have filed its judicial claim on time since...

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