Tuesday, September 25, 2007 Tax notes: Claim for refund, assessment
INTERNATIONAL revenue taxes cannot be the subject of set-off or compensation.
A taxpayer’s entitlement to a refund of unutilized creditable withholding taxes cannot be forestalled by alleged liability of the taxpayer to value-added tax and additional income tax arising from alleged discrepancy in the summaries of expanded withholding taxes attached to the tax returns. [Commissioner of Internal Revenue v. Starpack (Philippines) Corporation, CA-GR SP 65210, March 22, 2007]
The possible assessment that may result from a Bureau of Internal Revenue investigation is separate from the claim for refund.
Should an assessment be issued, it would have to be threshed out in separate proceedings. (Source: Punongbayan & Araullo)
