CTA Case No. 3260 (Decision)

/ TOKYO SHIPPING CO. LTD., represented by Soriamont Steamship Agencies., Inc., Petitioner, - versus; - C.T.A. CASE NO. 3260 THE COMMISSIONER OF' INTERNAL REVENUE, Respondent. X- - - - ------X .� DEC I S I 0 N An action to enforce a claim for refund or tax credit of amounts representing~epayments of inco me 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 25J

DECI SION - CTA CAS E NO. 3260 ' - 2- common carr.i e x:' s t .axes for the month of Dec ember, 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 (Exh s . " B-1" , "B-2" and "B-l'') on December 23i, 1980; 3) the trampe r vessel M/V "Gard enia" 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. E 11 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) _p re cipitated pet i tioner's fi l ing a wxitte n claim for r ef un d or tax credit the re- for in the: total sum of Pl07,14.2.75 with r e spondent Comm i ss i oner of Internal Revenue on March 20, 1 981 ~ and subsequent!~' 5) _inst it uted the: ins.tant petition wit h 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 col lected 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 o f 1977, as amended, relati ve to the recovery 25 4 )

DECISION - CTA CASE ~0. 3260 - 3- of erroneously or illegally collected taxes. It has b"een shown in this case that 1) _t h e petitioner has compl i ed with the mentioned statutory r equirement by ha ~ ing filed a writt e n claim for refund wi thin the two-year period from date of p ayment; 2) _th e respondent has no t issued any def iciency assessment nor disputed the correctness of the tax returns and the corresponding amou nts of p repa 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 rt ified 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 tione r's claim for refund which is the subject matter of t his case has not yet s ubm i tted his repo rt. Whe ther o r not respondent will presen 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 su bmitte 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. 25u

DECI SION - CTA CASE NO. 32GO - 4- An examination of the reco r ds s at i sf i es us that t he c ase presents no dispute as to relative ly simple materia l facts. The circumstance s obta i ni ng amply j us t ify petitioner's righteous indigna tion t o a more exped itious action. Respondent has offered no reason nor made effort to submit any controver t ing documents to ba sh that patina of legitimacy OVI the claim. But as might well be, towards the end of s ome 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 ma ni fe st ing that "it is now his turn to pre�sent evidence, howev e r, the Appellate Division of the BIR has already recomme nded the approval of petitioner' s claim for refund s ubject matter of this petition. The examine r who e x amined 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- tione r'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 tu ation 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 e pa i d income and common carrier's taxes for which 25G

DECISION - CTA CASE . NO. 3260 - 5- petitioner could no longer be made accountable. It may be neces~ary to re p eat what this Court held and what so plainly app 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 par 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 competen tly 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 CAS E NO. 3260 - 6. - SO ORDERED. Quezon City , Metro Manila, September 15, 198 3. /r.A_ . . OJ~e ~ :I& h ;E_ Q Y- E:.S/ ~ --- A socia t e J udge WE CONCUR: ~~~ AMANTE F/r.JLER Pres iding Judge ',J':;: '-.... " . /"'-..-. CON 'l'ANTE � ROAQUIN / ssociate Judge 253