Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Taxation is described as a destructive power which interferes with the personal and
property rights of the people and takes from them a portion of their property for the
support of the government.
The power to tax is inherent in the State, such power being inherently legislative,
based on the principle that taxes are a grant of the people who are taxed, and the
grant must be made by the immediate representative of the people, and where the
people have laid the power, there it must remain and be exercised.
As an incident of sovereignty, the power to tax has been described as unlimited in its
range, acknowledging in its very nature no limits, so that security against its abuse is
to be found only in the responsibility of the legislature which imposes the tax on the
constituency who are to pay it.
The power to tax is sometimes called the power to destroy. Therefore, it should be
exercised with caution to minimize injury to the proprietary rights of the taxpayer. It
must be exercised fairly, equally and uniformly, lest the tax collector kills the hen that
lays the golden egg.
MANILA MEMORIAL PARK, INC. AND LA FUNERARIA PAZ-SUCAT, INC.
vs. SECRETARY OF THE DSWD, G.R. No. 175356 (2013).
The 20% senior citizen discount and tax deduction scheme are valid exercises of
police power of the State absent a clear showing that it is arbitrary, oppressive or
confiscatory. The discount is intended to improve the welfare of the senior citizens
who, at their age, are less likely to be gainfully employed, more prone to illnesses and
other disabilities, and thus, in need of subsidy in purchasing commodities. As to its
nature an effects, although the regulation affects the pricing, and, hence, the
profitability of a private establishment, it does not purport to appropriate or burden
specific properties, used in the operation or conduct of the business of private
establishments, for the use or benefit of the public, or senior citizens for that matter,
but merely regulates the pricing of goods and services relative to, and the amount of
profits or income/gross sales that such private establishments may derive from, senior
citizens. The State can employ police power measures to regulate the pricing of goods
and services, and, hence, the profitability of business establishments in order to
pursue legitimate State objectives for the common good, provided, the regulation does
not go too far as to amount to taking.
The motivation behind many taxation measures is the implementation of police power
goals. Progressive income taxes alleviate the margin between rich and poor; the so-
called sin taxes on alcohol and tobacco manufacturers help dissuade the consumers
from excessive intake of these potentially harmful products.
The expenses of government, having for their object the interest of all, should be
borne by everyone, and the more man enjoys the advantages of society, the more he
ought to hold himself honored in contributing to those expenses.
The Court was satisfied that the coco-levy funds were raised pursuant to law to
support a proper governmental purpose. They were raised with the use of the police
and taxing powers of the State for the benefit of the coconut industry and its farmers in
general.
The theory behind the exercise of the power to tax emanates from necessity, without
taxes, government cannot fulfill its mandate of promoting the general welfare and well
being of the people.
Despite the natural reluctance to surrender part of ones hard earned income to the
taxing authorities, every person who is able to must contribute his share in the running
of the government. The government for its part is expected to respond in the form of
tangible and intangible benefits intended to improve the lives of the people and
enhance their moral and material values. This symbiotic relationship is the rationale of
taxation and should dispel the erroneous notion that it is an arbitrary method of
exaction by those in the seat of power.
As well said in a prior case, revenue laws are not intended to be liberally construed.
Considering that taxes are the lifeblood of the government and in Holmess
memorable metaphor, the price we pay for civilization, tax laws must be faithfully and
strictly implemented.
Double taxation means taxing the same property twice when it should be taxed only
once; that is, taxing the same person twice by the same jurisdiction for the same
thing. There is indeed double taxation if a taxpayer is subjected to the taxes under
both Section 14 (Tax on Manufacturers, Assemblers and other Processors) and
Section 21 (Tax on Business Subject to the Excise, Value-Added or Percentage Taxes
under the NIRC) of the Tax Ordinance No. 7794.
Regulation and taxation are two different things, the first being an exercise of police
power, whereas the latter involves the exercise of the power of taxation. While R.A.
2264 provides that no city may impose taxes on forest products and although lumber
is a forest product, the tax in question is imposed not on the lumber but upon its sale;
thus, there is no double taxation and even if there was, it is not prohibited.
Tax conventions are drafted with a view towards the elimination of international
juridical double taxation, which is defined as the imposition of comparable taxes in two
or more states on the same taxpayer in respect of the same subject matter and for
identical periods. A corporation who has paid 15% Branch Profit Remittance Tax
(BPRT) has the right to avail (by way of refund ) of the benefit of a preferential tax rate
of 10% BPRT in accordance with the RP-Germany Tax Treaty despite non-compliance
with an application with ITAD at least 15 days before the transaction for the lower rate.
Bearing in mind the rationale of tax treaties, the requirements for the application for
availment of tax treaty relief as required by RMO No. 1-2000 should not operate to
divest entitlement to the relief as it would constitute a violation of the duty required by
good faith in complying with a tax treaty.
Tax evasion connotes the integration of three factors: (1) the end to be achieved, i.e.,
the payment of less than that known by the taxpayer to be legally due, or the non-
payment of tax when it is shown that a tax is due; (2) an accompanying state of mind
which is described as being evil, in bad faith, willfull, or deliberate and not
accidental; and (3) a course of action or failure of action which is unlawful.
(FELS ENERGY, INC. v. PROVINCE OF BATANGAS, 516 SCRA 186
(2007))
Taxation is the rule and exemption is the exception.
BATANGAS POWER CORPORATION BATANGAS CITY and NATIONAL
POWER CORPORATION, G.R. No. 152675, April 28, 2004
Since the law granted the press a privilege, the law could take back the privilege
anytime without offense to the Constitution. The reason is simple: by granting
exemptions, the State does not forever waive the exercise of its sovereign prerogative;
indeed, in withdrawing the exemption, the law merely subjects the press to the same
tax burden to which other businesses have long ago been subject.
Nevertheless, since taxation is the rule and exemption therefrom the exception, the
exemption may thus be withdrawn at the pleasure of the taxing authority. The only
exception to this rule is where the exemption was granted to private parties based on
material consideration of a mutual nature, which then becomes contractual and is thus
covered by the non-impairment clause of the Constitution.
Taxes cannot be subject to compensation for the simple reason that the Government
and the taxpayers are not creditors and debtors of each other, debts are due to the
Government in its corporate capacity, while taxes are due to the Government in its
sovereign capacity.
DOMINGO v. GARLITOS, 8 SCRA 443 (1963)
However, if the obligation to pay taxes and the taxpayers claim against the
government are both overdue, demandable, as well as fully liquidated, compensation
takes place by operation of law and both obligations are extinguished to their
concurrent amounts.
While administrative agencies, such as the Bureau of Internal Revenue, may issue
regulations to implement statutes, they are without authority to limit the scope of the
statute to less than what it provides, or extend or expand the statute beyond its terms,
or in any way modify explicit provisions of the law. Hence, in case of discrepancy
between the basic law and an interpretative or administrative ruling, the basic law
prevails.
Revenue Memorandum Circulars (RMCs) must not override, supplant, or modify the
law, but must remain consistent and in harmony with the law they seek to apply and
implement.
TEAM ENERGY CORPORATION (Formerly MIRANT PAGBILAO
CORPORATION) v. COMMISSIONER OF INTERNAL REVENUE, G.R. No.
197760, January 13, 2014
It would be a robbery for the State to tax its citizens and use the funds generated for a
private purpose. When a tax law is only a mask to exact funds from the public when its
true intent is to give undue benefit and advantage to a private enterprise, that law will
not satisfy the requirement of public purpose.
Taxation assumes even greater significance with the ratification of the 1987
Constitution. Thenceforth, the power to tax is no longer vested exclusively on
Congress; local legislative bodies are now given direct authority to levy taxes, fees
and other charges pursuant to Article X, section 5 of the 1987 Constitution.
Assuming that Section 28(2) Article VI did not exist, the enactment of the SMA
[Safeguard Measure Act] by Congress would be voided on the ground that it would
constitute an undue delegation of the legislative power to tax. The constitutional
provision shields such delegation from constitutional infirmity, and should be
recognized as an exceptional grant of legislative power to the President, rather than
the affirmation of an inherent executive power.
Since it partakes of the nature of an excise tax, the situs of taxation is the place where
the privilege is exercised, in this case in the City of Iriga, where CASURECO III has its
principal office and from where it operates, regardless of the place where its services
or products are delivered.
COMMISSIONER OF INTERNAL REVENUE v.AMERICAN EXPRESS
INTERNATIONAL, INC. (PHILIPPINE BRANCH), G.R. No. 152609, June
29, 2005
As a general rule, the VAT system uses the destination principle as a basis for the
jurisdictional reach of the tax. Goods and services are taxed only in the country where
they are consumed; thus, exports are zero-rated, while imports are taxed.
As property of public dominion, the Lucena Fishing Port Complex is owned by the
Republic of the Philippines and thus exempt from real estate tax.
Equality and uniformity in taxation means that all taxable articles or kinds of property
of the same class shall be taxed at the same rate. The taxing power has the authority
to make reasonable and natural classifications for purposes of taxation; inequalities
which result from a singling out of one particular class for taxation or exemption
infringe no constitutional limitation.
Even as we find that the petitioner is a charitable institution, we hold that those
portions of its real property that are leased to private entities are not exempt from real
property taxes as these are not actually, directly and exclusively used for charitable
purposes. On the other hand, the portions of the land occupied by the hospital and
portions of the hospital used for its patients, whether paying or non-paying, are
exempt from real property taxes.
The incentives under R.A. No. 7227 are exclusive only to the Subic SEZ, hence, the
extension of the same to the John Hay SEZ finds no support therein. The challenged
grant of tax exemption would circumvent the Constitutions imposition that a law
granting any tax exemption must have the concurrence of a majority of all the
members of Congress.
Indirect taxes, like VAT and excise tax, are different from withholding taxes: To
distinguish, in indirect taxes, the incidence of taxation falls on one person but the
burden thereof can be shifted or passed on to another person, such as when the tax is
imposed upon goods before reaching the consumer who ultimately pays for it. On the
other hand, in case of withholding taxes, the incidence and burden of taxation fall on
the same entity, the statutory taxpayer. The burden of taxation is not shifted to the
withholding agent who merely collects, by withholding, the tax due from income
payments to entities arising from certain transactions and remits the same to the
government.
The accrual method relies upon the taxpayers right to receive amounts or its
obligation to pay them, in opposition to actual receipt or payment, which characterizes
the cash method of accounting. Amounts of income accrue where the right to receive
them become fixed, where there is created an enforceable liability. Similarly, liabilities
are accrued when fixed and determinable in amount, without regard to indeterminacy
merely of time of payment. For a taxpayer using the accrual method, the determinative
question is, when do the facts present themselves in such a manner that the taxpayer
must recognize income or expense? The accrual of income and expense is permitted
when the all-events test has been met. This test requires: (1) fixing of a right to income
or liability to pay; and (2) the availability of the reasonable accurate determination of
such income or liability.
Stock dividends, strictly speaking, represent capital and do not constitute income to its
recipient. So that the mere issuance thereof is not yet subject to income tax as they
are nothing but an enrichment through increase in value of capital investment.
However, the redemption or cancellation of stock dividends, depending on the time
and manner it was made, is essentially equivalent to a distribution of taxable
dividends, making the proceeds thereof taxable income to the extent it represents
profits. The exception was designed to prevent the issuance and cancellation or
redemption of stock dividends, which is fundamentally not taxable, from being made
use of as a device for the actual distribution of cash dividends, which is taxable.
Ma. Isabel T. Santos vs. Servier Phil., Inc., et al., G.R. No. 166377,
November 28, 2008
In claiming deductions for bad debts, the only evidentiary support given by PRC was
the explanation posited by its accountant, whose allegations were not supported by
any documentary evidence. One of the requisites to qualify as bad debt is that the
debt must be actually ascertained to be worthless and uncollectible during the taxable
year, and the taxpayer must prove that he exerted diligent efforts to collect the debts
by (1) sending of statement of accounts; (2) sending of collection letters; (3) giving the
account to a lawyer for collection; and (4) filing a collection case in court.
Consolidated Mines, Inc. vs. Court of Tax Appeals, et al., G.R. Nos.
L-18843 & 18844, August 29, 1974
Both depletion and depreciation are predicated on the same basic promise of avoiding
a tax on capital. The allowance for depletion is based on the theory that the extraction
of minerals gradually exhausts the capital investment in the mineral deposit. The
purpose of the depiction deduction is to permit the owner of a capital interest in
mineral in place to make a tax-free recovery of that depleting capital asset. A depletion
is based upon the concept of the exhaustion of a natural resource whereas
depreciation is based upon the concept of the exhaustion of the property, not
otherwise a natural resource, used in a trade or business or held for the production of
income. Thus, depletion and depreciation are made applicable to different types of
assets. And a taxpayer may not deduct that which the Code allows as of another.
The intent of Congress relative to the MCIT is to grant a 4 year suspension of tax
payment to newly formed corporations. Corporations still starting have to stabilize their
venture in order to obtain stronghold in the industry. It is not a surprise when many
corporations reported losses in their initial years of operations.
Citytrust and Asianbank are domestic corporations which paid gross receipts tax and
claimed a refund on the basis of a CTA ruling that the 20% FWT on a banks passive
income does not form part of the taxable gross receipts. The 20% FWT on a banks
interest income forms part of the taxable gross receipts because gross receipts
means the entire receipts without any deduction; moreover, the imposition of the
20% FWT and 5% GRT does not constitute double taxation because GRT is a
percentage tax while FWT is an income tax, and the two concepts are different from
each other.
For a taxpayer to be entitled to a tax credit or refund of creditable withholding tax, the
following requisites must be complied with: First, The claim must be filed with the CIR
within the two-year period from the date of payment of the tax; Second, It must be
shown on the return of the recipient that the income received was declared as part of
the gross income; and Third, The fact of withholding is established by a copy of the
statement duly issued by the payor to the payee showing the amount paid and the
amount of tax withheld.
TAX II
The conveyance in question is not, first of all, one of mortis causa, which should be
embodied in a will. In this case, the monies subject of savings account were in the
nature of conjugal funds. In the case relied on, Rivera v. Peoples Bank and Trust Co.,
we rejected claims that a survivorship agreement purports to deliver one partys
separate properties in favor of the other, but simply, their joint holdings.
Thus, there must be a sale, barter or exchange of goods or properties before any VAT
may be levied. Certainly, there was no such sale, barter or exchange in the subsidy
given by SIS to Sony; it was but a dole out by SIS and not in payment for goods or
properties sold, bartered or exchanged by Sony.
Among those included in the enumeration is the lease of motion picture films, films,
tapes and discs. This, however, is not the same as the showing or exhibition of
motion pictures or films. The legislative intent is not to impose VAT on persons already
covered by the amusement tax and this holds true even in the case of cinema/theater
operators taxed under the LGC of 1991 precisely because the VAT law was intended
to replace the percentage tax on certain services.
CIR v. Seksui Jushi Phils, Inc. G.R. No. 149671, July 21, 2006
Under Section 112(A) of the NIRC, for VAT-registered persons whose sales are zero-
rated or effectively zero-rated, a claim for the refund or credit of creditable input tax
that is due or paid, and that is attributable to zero-rated or effectively zero-rated sales,
must be filed within two years after the close of the taxable quarter when such sales
were made. The reckoning frame would always be the end of the quarter when the
pertinent sale or transactions were made, regardless of when the input VAT was paid.
Also, in the filing of judicial claims, the 30-day period to appeal to the CTA is
dependent on the 120-day period, compliance with both periods is jurisdictional. The
period of 120 days is a prerequisite for the commencement of the 30-day period to
appeal to the CTA.
Prior to seeking judicial recourse before the CTA, a VATregistered person may apply
for the issuance of a tax credit certificate or refund of creditable input tax attributable
to zerorated or effectively zerorated sales within two (2) years after the close of
taxable quarter when the sales or purchases were made. Additionally, under
paragraph (D) of Section 112, Tax Code, the Commissioner of Internal Revenue is
given a 120day period, from submission of complete documents in support of the
administrative claim within which to act on claims for refund/applications for issuance
of the tax credit certificate. Upon denial of the claim or application, or upon expiration
of the 120day period, the taxpayer only has 30 days within which to appeal said
adverse decision or unacted claim before the CTA.
Taganito Mining Corporation vs. Commissioner of Internal Revenue,
G.R. No. 197591 (June 18, 2014).
The 2010 Aichi case instructs that once the administrative claim is filed within the
prescriptive period, the claimant must wait for the 120-day period to end and,
thereafter, he is given a 30-day period to file his judicial claim before the CTA, even if
said 120-day and 30-day periods would exceed the aforementioned two (2)-year
prescriptive period.
The 2-year period under Section 229 does not apply to appeals before the CTA in
relation to claims for a refund or tax credit for unutilized creditable input VAT. Section
229 pertains to the recovery of taxes erroneously, illegally, or excessively
collected. Input VAT is not excessively collected as understood under Section 229
because, at the time the input VAT is collected, the amount paid is correct and proper.
It is, therefore, Section 112 which applies specifically with regard to claiming a refund
or tax credit for unutilized creditable input VAT.
Prior payment of taxes is not necessary before a taxpayer could avail of the 8%
transitional input tax credit: first, it was never mentioned in Section 105 of the old
NIRC [now Sec. 111] that prior payment of taxes is a requirement; second, since the
law (Section 105 of the NIRC) does not provide for prior payment of taxes, to require it
now would be tantamount to judicial legislation which, to state the obvious, is not
allowed; third, a transitional input tax credit is not a tax refund per se but a tax credit;
fourth, if the intent of the law were to limit the input tax to cases where actual VAT was
paid, it could have simply said that the tax base shall be the actual value-added tax
paid; and fifth, this Court had already declared that prior payment of taxes is not
required in order to avail of a tax credit.
An assessment contains not only a computation of tax liabilities, but also a demand for
payment within a prescribed period. It also signals the time when penalties and
protests begin to accrue against the taxpayer. To enable the taxpayer to determine his
remedies thereon, due process requires that it must be served on and received by the
taxpayer. Accordingly, an affidavit, which was executed by revenue officers stating the
tax liabilities of a taxpayer and attached to a criminal complaint for tax evasion, cannot
be deemed an assessment that can be questioned before the Court of Tax Appeals.
The power and duty to assess national internal revenue taxes are lodged with the BIR.
The Court of Tax Appeals has no power to make an assessment at the first instance.
On matters such as tax collection, tax refund, and others related to the national
internal revenue taxes, the Court of Tax Appeals jurisdiction is appellate in nature.
However, because Republic Act No. 1125 also vests the Court of Tax Appeals with
jurisdiction over the BIRs inaction on a taxpayers refund claim, there may be
instances when the Court of Tax Appeals has to take cognizance of cases that have
nothing to do with the BIRs assessments or decisions. If the BIR fails to act on the
request for refund, the taxpayer may bring the matter to the Court of Tax Appeals.
The rule is that in the absence of the accounting records of a taxpayer, his tax liability
may be determined by estimation. The petitioner is not required to compute such tax
liabilities with mathematical exactness. Approximation in the calculation of the taxes
due is justified. To hold otherwise would be tantamount to holding that skillful
concealment is an invincible barrier to proof. However, the rule does not apply where
the estimation is arrived at arbitrarily and capriciously. In fine, then, the petitioner acted
arbitrarily and capriciously in relying on and giving weight to the machine copies of the
Consumption Entries in fixing the tax deficiency assessments against the respondent.
Both Article 13 of the Civil Code and Section 31, Chapter VIII, Book I of the
Administrative Code of 1987 deal with the same subject matter the computation of
legal periods. Under the Civil Code, a year is equivalent to 365 days whether it be a
regular year or a leap year. Under the Administrative Code of 1987, however, a year is
composed of 12 calendar months. Needless to state, under the Administrative Code of
1987, the number of days is irrelevant. There obviously exists a manifest
incompatibility in the manner of computing legal periods under the Civil Code and the
Administrative Code of 1987. For this reason, we hold that Section 31, Chapter VIII,
Book I of the Administrative Code of 1987, being the more recent law, governs the
computation of legal periods.
Sec. 228 of the Tax Code clearly requires that the taxpayer must be informed that he
is liable for deficiency taxes through the sending of a Preliminary Assessment Notice.
The sending of a PAN to the taxpayer is to inform him of the assessment made is but
part of due process requirement in the issuance of a deficiency tax assessment, the
absence of which renders nugatory any assessment made by the tax authorities.
The request for reinvestigation and reconsideration was in effect considered denied by
petitioner when the latter filed a civil suit for collection of deficiency income. Under the
circumstances, the Commissioner of Internal Revenue, not having clearly signified his
final action on the disputed assessment, legally the period to appeal has not
commenced to run. Thus, it was only when private respondent received the summons
on the civil suit for collection of deficiency income on December 28, 1978 that the
period to appeal commenced to run.
It is settled that the claim of the government predicated on a tax lien is superior to the
claim of a private litigant predicated on a judgment. The tax lien attaches not only from
the service of the warrant of distraint of personal property but from the time the tax
became due and payable. Besides, the distraint on the subject properties of Maritime
Company of the Philippines as well as the notice of their seizure were made by
petitioner, through the Commissioner of Internal Revenue, long before the writ of
execution was issued by the Regional Trial Court.
In cases before tax courts, Rules of Court applies only by analogy or in a suppletory
character and whenever practicable and convenient shall be liberally construed in
order to promote its objective of securing a just, speedy and inexpensive disposition of
every action and proceeding. Since it is not disputed that petitioner is entitled to tax
exemption, it should not be precluded from presenting evidence to substantiate the
amount of refund it is claiming on mere technicality especially in this case, where the
failure to present invoices at the first instance was adequately explained by petitioner.
For corporations, the two-year prescriptive period within which to claim a refund
commences to run, at the earliest, on the date of the filing of the adjusted final tax
return. The rationale in computing the two-year prescriptive period with respect to the
petitioner corporations claim for refund from the time it filed its final adjustment return
is the fact that it was only then that ACCRAIN could ascertain whether it made profits
or incurred losses in its business operations.
Silkair vs CIR, G.R. Nos. 171383 & 172379, November 14, 2008
The proper party to question, or seek a refund of an indirect tax is the statutory
taxpayer, the person on whom the tax is imposed by law and who paid the same even
if he shifts the burden thereof to another. Even if Petron Corporation passed on to
Silkair the burden of the tax, the additional amount billed to Silkair for jet fuel is not a
tax but part of the price which Silkair had to pay as a purchaser.
Angeles City vs. Angeles City Electric Corp., GR 166134, June 29,
2010
The National Internal Revenue Code of 1997 (NIRC) expressly provides that no court
shall have the authority to grant an injunction to restrain the collection of any national
internal revenue tax, fee or charge imposed by the code. The situation, however, is
different in the case of the collection of local taxes as there is no express provision in
the LGC prohibiting courts from issuing an injunction to restrain local governments
from collecting taxes. Such statutory lapse or intent, however it may be viewed, may
have allowed preliminary injunction where local taxes are involved but cannot negate
the procedural rules and requirements under Rule 58.
The BIR may therefore abate or cancel the whole or any unpaid portion of a tax
liability, inclusive of increments, if its assessment is excessive or erroneous; or if the
administration costs involved do not justify the collection of the amount due. No mutual
concessions need be made, because an excessive or erroneous tax is not
compromised; it is abated or canceled. Only correct taxes should be paid.
Under the Local Tax Code. there is no question that the authority to impose the license
fees collected from the hauling of sand and gravel excavated properly belongs to the
province concerned and not to the municipality where they are found which is
specifically prohibited under Section 22 of the same Code from levying taxes, fees
and charges that the province or city is authorized to levy in this Code.
In order for an entity to legally undertake a quarrying business, he must first comply
with all the requirements imposed not only by the national government, but also by the
local government unit where his business is situated. Particularly, Section 138 (2) of
RA 7160 requires that such entity must first secure a governors permit prior to the
start of his quarrying operations
Ericsson Telecoms vs. City of Pasig. G.R. NO. 176667, November 22,
2007
Tax should be computed based on gross receipts; the right to receive income, and not
the actual receipt, determines when to include the amount in gross income. The
imposition of local business tax based on petitioners gross revenue will inevitably
result in the constitutionally proscribed double taxation taxing of the same person
twice by the same jurisdiction for the same thing inasmuch as petitioners revenue or
income for a taxable year will definitely include its gross receipts already reported
during the previous year and for which local business tax has already been paid.
Valley Trading Co., Inc. v. CFI of Isabela, Branch II, G.R. No. L-
49529, March 31, 1989
Unlike the National Internal Revenue Code, the Local Tax Code does not contain any
specific provision prohibiting courts from enjoining the collection of local taxes. Such
Statutory lapse or intent, however it may be viewed, may have allowed preliminary
injunction where local taxes are involved but cannot negate the procedural rules and
requirements under Rule 58.
Davao Oriental Electric Coop vs. Prov. Dvo. of Oriental, 576 SCRA
645
Under then Sec. 30 of PD 464 [now under Sec. 226, LGC], having failed to appeal the
real property assessments to the LBAA, taxpayer now cannot assail the validity of the
tax assessment before the courts. For failure to exhaust administrative remedies, the
assessment became final. Under Sec. 64 of PD 464 [now under Sec. 252, LGC), the
taxpayer must first pay under protest and then assail the validity of the assessment.
Fels Energy, Inc. v. Province of Batangas, G.R. No. 168557, 170628,
February 16, 2007
Under Section 226 of R.A. No 7160, the last action of the local assessor on a
particular assessment shall be the notice of assessment; it is this last action which
gives the owner of the property the right to appeal to the LBAA. The procedure
likewise does not permit the property owner the remedy of filing a motion for
reconsideration before the local assessor.
Regional trial courts are devoid of any competence to pass upon the validity or
regularity of seizure and forfeiture proceedings conducted by the BOC and to enjoin or
otherwise interfere with these proceedings. Regional trial courts are precluded from
assuming cognizance over such matters even through petitions for certiorari,
prohibition or mandamus.
Jao v. Court of Appeals, G.R. No. 104604, 111223, October 06, 1995
Even if the seizure by the Collector of Customs were illegal, which has yet to be
proven, we have said that such act does not deprive the Bureau of Customs of
jurisdiction thereon. The allegations of petitioners regarding the propriety of the
seizure should properly be ventilated before the Collector of Customs.
Transglobe International, Inc. v. Court of Appeals, G.R. No. 126634,
January 25, 1999
A forfeiture proceeding is in the nature of a proceeding in rem, i.e., directed against
the res or imported articles and entails a determination of the legality of their
importation. In this proceeding, it is in legal contemplation the property itself which
commits the violation and is treated as the offender, without reference whatsoever to
the character or conduct of the owner.