San Miguel Brewery, Inc. (SMB) is weighing its next move after the Court of Appeals (CTA) disallowed its appeal for a refund of P3,792,392.50, its parent firm said on Tuesday.
“SMB will either move for reconsideration or elevate the matter to the Supreme Court,” San Miguel Corp. (SMC) said in its clarification sent to the Philippine Stock Exchange.
The conglomerate clarified that it was SMB, its subsidiary, which is the party to the case at the appellate court and not the listed firm. It also said that the unit had yet to receive a copy of the decision.
It said the case emanated from CTA Case No. 9513, which is a claim for refund filed by SMB with the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) in the total amount of P48,266,780.24, which it said represented “erroneous, excessive or illegal collection of excise taxes on its beer products.”
The collection covered the period from Jan. 1, 2015 up to Dec. 31, 2015.
“The BIR imposed excise taxes at the tax rate of P22.25 per liter when the tax imposed under Section 143 of the National Internal Revenue Code, as amended by Republic Act No. 10351, is only either P19.00 per liter or P22.00 per liter, depending on the net retail price of the product,” it said.
The company said that in a June 13, 2019 decision, the Special Second Division of the CTA partially granted SMB’s petition and ordered the refund of P44,474,387.74 while disallowing the amount of P3,792,392.50.
SMB then appealed the disallowed amount to the CTA En Banc, it said, while the BIR appealed the ordered refund.
SMC said that based on the CTA En Banc’s Feb. 4, 2021 decision that was posted on the court’s website, the June 13, 2019 decision was affirmed.
Note: this story has been updated to correct the name of the company party to the case — San Miguel Brewery, Inc.
