July 8, 2015, 9:38 a.m. – A TECHNICALITY has prevented
tax authorities from collecting P171.5 million from the University in a tax
dispute involving UST Hospital.
The Court of Tax Appeals favored UST in a decision dated
March 2, junking the Bureau of Internal Revenue’s (BIR) claim that UST Hospital
needed to pay an extra P171.5 million in income taxes and a compromise penalty
of P56,000. An audit found that the hospital failed to declare more than P700
million in income in 2006.
A motion for reconsideration filed by the BIR last March 27
was dismissed by the tax appeals court last June 11.
The March 2 decision states that the tax assessment was
invalid because the “letter of authority” issued by the BIR to open UST
Hospital’s accounting books in March 2007 came from BIR Revenue Region No. 6 in
Manila. Jurisdiction over UST, however, was transferred to the BIR’s Large
Taxpayers Service in Quezon City in January 2007.
The court cited Section 13 of the National Internal Revenue
Code, which states: “a Revenue Officer assigned to perform assessment functions
in any district may, pursuant to a Letter of Authority issued by the Revenue
Regional Director, examine taxpayers within the jurisdiction of the district.”
“Accordingly, a void assessment bears no valid fruit,” the
decision said, quoting a 2006 Supreme Court ruling. “Finding that the
assessments are void for being issued beyond the authority of the Region, the
Court finds it no longer necessary to discuss the other issues raised,” the tax
court said.
Case records showed that BIR Revenue District Office No. 32
issued an assessment notice in July 2010, when Commissioner Kim Jacinto-Henares
assumed office.
By that time, the three-year deadline for the BIR to issue
an assessment notice on UST Hospital’s 2006 income had already lapsed, the
University argued.
Associate Justice Lovell Bautista of the court’s third
division wrote the decision. Associate Justices Esperanza Fabon-Victorino and
Maria Belen Ringpis-Liban concurred. Jerome P. Villanueva
Swerte ng UST. Saan naman kaya gagamitin ang ganun kalaking pera? Haha. Puro state of the art lahat ng facilities except ang Conservatory na pinagsiksikan sa isang floor ng isang building. Ni walang sariling auditorium. Conservatory naman gastusan nyo minsan.