THE COURT of Tax Appeals (CTA) granted a tax refund of P20.74 million to multinational firm, Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd., acknowledging its claim that the final withholding tax (FWT) it paid for 2018 was not legally due.

In a 25-page decision last Nov. 7, the CTA Special Second Division ruled that the company’s payment of 15% FWT for employees’ compensation lacked statutory authority as it was based on a vetoed provision of the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion (TRAIN) Law.

On Dec. 19, 2017, then-president Rodrigo R. Duterte vetoed a provision of the TRAIN Law which mandated the 15% special tax for employees of regional headquarters and regional operations headquarters, among others.

Due to this veto, affected employees — including those in the cruise line’s regional operating headquarters in the Philippines — were not required to pay the 15% preferential tax rate on their gross income starting Jan. 1, 2018, the ruling stated.

“[S]aid employees’ salaries, wages, annuities, compensation, remuneration, and other emoluments, such as honoraria and allowances, are now subject to the regular income tax rate,” the ruling penned by Associate Justice Lanee S. Cui-David read. “Accordingly, petitioner’s payment of the 15% FWT is without statutory authority or not legally due.” — Jomel R. Paguian

THE COMMISSION on Elections (Comelec) denied on Tuesday a new allegation raised by former information and communications technology chief Eliseo M. Rio, Jr. that some election returns (ER) were transmitted earlier than usual during the 2022 national elections.

In a statement, the Comelec said Mr. Rio claimed that based on the logs from telecommunications companies Globe Telecom and Smart Communications, a total of 7,975 vote counting machines (VCM) transmitted ERs from 1:15 p.m. to 7:09 p.m. before being received in the Comelec transparency server, which might have resulted in the manipulation of results.

But the Comelec clarified that the logs from Globe were due to a consolidating canvassing system connection from the municipal board of canvassers and not from VCMs. Meanwhile, logs from Smart referred not to the election data but to network data.

“This plainly indicates that the telco logs do not show any connected foreign device or illegal device,” said Comelec Spokesperson John Rex C. Laudiangco in a statement. “Such is not possible because a VCM can only connect and transmit using the digital certificate previously validated and authenticated by the election network and application.”

Meanwhile, the Comelec confirmed it has fully settled honoraria payment for electoral boards and support staff in the recent village and youth polls.

In a Viber message, Comelec Chairman George Erwin M. Garcia said almost P7 billion were used to pay election officers across the country.

“This is consistent with our own monitoring that almost all payments were made within the first two weeks after the election,” said Teachers Dignity Coalition national chairperson Benjo Basas in a statement. — Jomel R. Paguian