THE Court of Tax Appeals (CTA) dismissed a petition of Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp. (PSALM) to cancel its alleged P3.81-billion tax deficiency, citing a lack of jurisdiction and affirming an earlier decision issued on Aug. 28.
In a Nov. 5 resolution, the CTA Special Second Division denied the motion for reconsideration of PSALM, a government-owned and controlled corporation, citing a Supreme Court (SC) ruling that “’all disputes, claims, and controversies’ between or among offices, agencies and instrumentalities of the national government” must be resolved under a process outlined by Presidential Decree No. 242.
PD 242 requires all disputes between government agencies including GOCCs to be settled or adjudicated by the Secretary of Justice, Solicitor General or the Government Corporate Counsel, depending on the issues at hand.
PSALM was assessed by the Bureau of Internal Revenue a tax deficiency for the year 2009 including delinquency interest.
“This Court merely applies the doctrine laid down by the highest court in the said PSALM case and that the change of jurisdiction for the resolution of cases involving government entities will not prejudice them considering that there are adequate remedies available for them under the law,” the CTA said.
“Wherefore, premises considered, petitioner’s Motion for Reconsideration is hereby denied for lack of merit. Accordingly, the assailed decision promulgated on Aug. 28, 2018 is hereby affirmed,” it added.
The resolution was written by Associate Justice Catherine T. Manahan and concurred in by Associate Justice Juanito C. Castañeda. — Vann Marlo M. Villegas
