VIII In the examination conducted by the revenue officials against the corporate taxpayer in 2010, the BIR issued

a final assessment notice and demand letter which states: "It is requested that the above deficiency tax be paid immediately upon receipt hereof, inclusive of penalties incident to delinquency. This is our final decision based on investigation. If you disagree, you may appeal this final decision within thirty (30) days from receipt hereof, otherwise said deficiency tax assessment shall become final, executory and demandable.'' The assessment . was immediately appealed by the taxpayer to the Court of Tax Appeals, without filing its protest against the assessment and without a denial thereof by the BIR. If you were the judge, would you deny the petition for review filed by the taxpayer and consider the case as prematurely filed? Explain your answer. No. It is well-settled that, what is appealable to the CTA is the decision of the CIR on the disputed assessment and not the assessment nor the formal demand letter itself. However, the instant case is an exception to the rule on exhaustion of administrative remedies. Considering the language used and the tenor of the letter sent to the taxpayer, it appears from the demand letter that the BIR has already made a final decision on the matter and that the remedy of the taxpayer is to appeal the final decision within 30 days. Although there was no direct reference to bring the matter directly to the CTA, it cannot be denied that the word appeal under prevailing tax laws refers to the filing of a Petition for Review with the CTA. Viewed in the light of the foregoing, BIR is now estopped from claiming that it did not intend the Formal Letter of Demand with Assessment Notices to be a final decision ( Allied Banking Corporation v. CIR, G.R. No. 175097, February 5, 2010).