BUREAU OF INTERNAL REVENUE

 

The Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) issued Revenue Memorandum Circular No. 68-2017, 10 August 2017, regarding the approval of permit to use (PTU) loose-leaf books of accounts/ invoices/ receipts and other accounting records.

In line with the ease of doing business, the processing of application and issuance of the corresponding PTU shall be done by the concerned Revenue District Office (RDO) where the principal office of the taxpayer is registered.

The PTU issued to the taxpayer's head office shall cover all identified registered branches and shall be valid in any RDO  where the taxpayer has registered branches at the time of issuance. Updating of the PTU shall be required for subsequent additional branches. A certified true copy of the PTU issued by the RDO of the taxpayer's head office must be furnished to each branch authorized to use the approved loose-leaf. 

 

COURT OF TAX APPEALS

The Court of Tax Appeals (CTA) ruled in:

Hedcor, Inc. vs. Commissioner of Internal Revenue, CTA Case No. 8875, 11 July 2017 and Maibarara Geothermal Inc. vs. CIR, CTA Case Nos. 8871, 8937, 8999, and 9042, 02 August 2017, that a person engaged in zero-rated or effectively zero-rated sales is not entitled to the refund of input Value-Added Tax (VAT) or the VAT passed-on to it by its suppliers. Taxpayers, being Renewable Energy (RE) developers, are entitled to zero-rated VAT on their purchases of local supply of goods, properties and services needed for the development, construction and installation of its plant facilities and to the whole process of exploring and developing renewable energy sources up to its conversion of power. Evidently, no output VAT should be shifted to or passed on to RE developers in connection with their purchases of goods and services needed for the development, construction, and installation of their plant facilities as well as to the whole process of exploration and development of RE sources up to its conversion of power. Conversely, no input VAT shall be paid by RE developers on these transactions and it necessarily follows that they are not entitled to refund or issuance of tax credit certificates from the said purchases. If, in spite of the zero-rating of purchases, the RE developers paid the input VAT, the proper recourse is not a claim for refund against the government, but to seek reimbursement against the seller who shifted to them the input VAT. The supplier/seller is still the proper party to claim for the tax refund, not the taxpayer.

(RGM&Co. Note: CTA Case No. 8875 and CTA Case Nos. 8871, 8937, 8999, and 9042 are both under Motions for Reconsideration as of 28 July 2017 and 22 August 2017, respectively).

 

BOARD OF INVESTMENTS

The Board of Investments (BOI) issued Memorandum Circular (MC) No. 2017-005, 26 July 2017, to direct all BOI-registered new and expanding enterprises as follows:

• Those registered starting year 2012 to surrender their Certificate of Registration for annotation of their entitlement to zero percent (0%) duty rate on importation of certain articles pursuant to Executive Order (EO) No. 22 and its Implementing Rules and Regulations; and

• Those with valid Certificate of Authority (CA) issued pursuant to EO No. 70 to surrender said CA for annotation of the extension of their validity in accordance with Section 14 of DTI-BOI Administrative Order No. 01, Series of 2017, as amended, provided:

a. that the capital equipment, spare parts or accessories were ordered, as reflected on the date of the purchase order or on the date of the opening of the corresponding letters of credit; or

b. loaded, as reflected in the bill of lading; or

c. are still in transit on or before the date of the expiration of EO No. 70 and have arrived after such date but not yet released from customs control

(RGM&Co. Note: The MC was published in the Philippine Star on 09 August 2017)