HEDCOR, INC. v. COMMISSIONER OF INTERNAL REVENUE

RE PUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES COURT OF TAX APPEALS QUEZON CITY EN BANC HEDCOR, INC., CTA EB No. 1761 Petitioner, (CTA Case No. 8967) Present: -versus- DEL RO~SARIO, PJ; CASTANEDA, JR., UY, FASON-VICTORINO, MI NDARO-GRULLA, RI NGPIS-LIBAN, MANAHAN, BACORRO-VILLENA, and MODESTO-SAN PEDRO, JJ. CO MMISSIONER OF Promulgated: I NTERNAL REVENUE, NOV 15 2019 Respondent. x- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -~ - - - - - - - x (Jt<l /1 'SDo... ~ . RESOLUTION Fabon - Victorino, J.: On Febru ary 11, 2019, the Court En Bane rendered a Decision, 1 sustaining t he Decision dated June 7, 2017 rendered by t he Court in Division, in the following manner, thus: WHEREFORE, the Petition for Review dated November 20, 2017 filed by petitioner Hedcor, Inc. is DENIED, for lack of merit. Rollo, pp. 298- 313. j

RESOLUTION CTA EB No. 1761 Consequently, the assailed Decision dated June 7, 2017 and Resolution dated October 12, 2017, both rendered by the Court in Division are AFFIRMED. SO ORDERED. The Court in Division denied petitioner's claim for refund of alleged excess and unutilized input taxes imputable to zero-rated sales covering the 3rd Quarter of taxable year (TY) 2012. On May 7, 2019, petitioner filed its Motion for Reconsideration dated May 7, 2019/ anchored on the following grounds: I. The Honorable Court erred in denying its claim for input VAT refund or tax credit on the basis of Republic Act (RA) No. 9513; and II. The Honorable Court erred in denying its Motion for New Trial on the ground that there was no newly-discovered evidence. Despite notice, respondent failed3 to file comment/opposition to petitioner's Motion for Reconsideration. Section 15(g) of RA No. 9513 states inter alia, that Renewable Energy (RE) Developers shall be conferred VAT zero-rating on its purchases of local supply of goods, properties and services needed for the development, construction and installation of its plant facilities, including the process of exploration and development of resources until transmutation of such energy into power. As discussed in pages 8-12 of the impugned Decision, as a RE Developer, the law deems petitioner's purchases of goods, properties, and services pertinent to its plant and energy development subject to zero percent (0%) input VAT. A fortiori, suppliers may not shift output VAT on their sales in favor of petitioner. And since its suppliers erroneously charged output VAT on the purchases made by 2 Ibid. at pp. 133-151. 3 Records verification report dated July 18, 2019.

RESOLUTION CTA EB No. 1761 petitioner, the legal recourse of the latter is to claim such mistakenly charged VAT to its suppliers and not with the government. It is for this reason that the instant claim for refund was denied. The Court must also reject petitioner's plea for new trial on the ground of newly discovered evidence. By its own admission, the documents in support of the subject refund were already in petitioner's custody at the time of its presentation of evidence but nevertheless, it opted not to present such documents for the consideration of the Court in Division. Such fact removes the foregoing documents from the ambit of newly-discovered evidence under Section 1, Rule 37 of the Rules of Court. Moreover, while petitioner sought new trial via an Omnibus Motion filed with the Court in Division, it failed to append the affidavits of witnesses who would identify such proposed documents sought to be presented as evidence, in violation of Section 2 of the same Rule. 4 WHEREFORE, petitioner's Motion for Reconsideration dated May 7, 2019 is DENIED, for lack of merit. The impugned Decision of February 11, 2019 is AFFIRMED. SO ORDERED. . FABON-VICTORINO 4 Pages 12-13 of the impugned Decision.

RESOLUTION CTA EB No. 1761 We Concur: ON LEAVE ROMAN G. DEL ROSARIO Presiding Justice Q~c.Q.;f'-,.,.....-.:��.ee.,~ Q.. ERL~.UY Jl1P.NITO C. CASTANEuk, JR. Associate Justice Associate Justice ~.~ _4''-.. ~N.U~.C~ MA. BELEN RINGPIS-LIBAN CIELITO N. MINDARO-GRULLA Associate Justice Associate Justice ?'~�7~ JEAN BACORRO-VILLENA AsJ.;oclate Justice CATHERINE T. MANAHAN Associate Justice NO PART (On Official Time) MARIA ROWENA MODESTO-SAN PEDRO Associate Justice