Tetra Pak Philippines gets P9-M refund

THE Court of Tax Appeals (CTA) partially granted Tetra Pak Philippines, Inc.’s petition for a refund, ordering the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) to return over P9 million in unutilized input value-added tax (VAT) for the fourth quarter of 2018.

In a ruling publicized on March 25, the court’s Second Division denied the BIR’s motion for partial reconsideration, finding it to be a mere rehash of arguments previously raised in their answer.

It cited Supreme Court rulings, stating that motions for reconsideration should present substantially plausible or compellingly persuasive new matters to warrant a reversal of the original decision.

Since the BIR’s motion did not raise any new or substantive legitimate grounds, the tax court denied the prayer.

“This Court is constrained to deny respondent’s motion as it is a mere rehash of arguments that have already been previously pleaded, submitted, and resolved by this Court, and the arguments therein are too unsubstantial to warrant reconsideration of the assailed decision,” the 16-page ruling penned by Justice Ma. Belen M. Ringpis-Liban read. “Accordingly, nothing is left for this Court but to deny respondent’s Motion for Partial Reconsideration.”

The original decision, promulgated on Aug. 20, 2024, had already partially granted Tetra Pak’s claim, ordering the BIR to refund P9.171 million. The March 25, 2025, ruling increased the refund to P9.174 million.

In the original decision, the input VAT on purchases of services from SGS Philippines, Inc., amounting to P19,238.99, was disallowed because the nature of the service was not indicated in the VAT Official Receipts (ORs).

However, in the amended decision, the court found that these ORs had invoice references, and the corresponding service invoices indicated the services being paid for.

Therefore, this input VAT was allowed and included in the adjusted valid input VAT on domestic purchases of services. This adjustment increased the pool of input VAT available for refund.

The original decision also disallowed the input VAT related to sales to Cardinal Agri Products, Inc. (CAPI), amounting to P61,048.78, due to discrepancies in the details between importation invoices and related zero-rated sales invoices.

Upon reconsideration, the court found that one item did match in both invoices, leading to the allowance of P125.25 as directly attributable to valid zero-rated sales. This also contributed to a slight increase in the refundable amount. — Chloe Mari A. Hufana