SC junks BIR’s appeal on SALN request

Supreme Court of the Philippines. Photo by Mike Gonzales courtesy of Wiki Commons.

MANILA — The Supreme Court (SC) dismissed on Tuesday the appeal of Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) Commissioner Kim S. Jacinto-Henares to be furnished copies of the Statements of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth (SALNs) of the justices of the SC, Court of Appeals (CA) and the Court of Tax Appeals (CTA) from 2003 to 2012.

In a press conference, SC Public Information Office (PIO) Chief and Spokesman Atty. Theodore O. Te said that the Court denied the request of the BIR for the copies of such SALNs for lack of reasonable and sufficient basis.

In a resolution issued on Tuesday, the SC denied the motions for reconsideration of Henares for certified copies of the SALNs of all incumbent justices of the SC, the CA and the CTA for the years 2003 to 2012 for lack of reasonable and sufficient basis.

The SC noted that “the powers bestowed on the Commissioner of Internal Revenue (CIR) are not absolute.”

“Particularly, the Tax Code limits the authority of the CIR by providing prescriptive limits on the power to assess and collect taxes; under Section 203 of the Tax Code, a three-year limit is imposed for the assessment of internal revenue taxes,” the SC said.

“Section 222 of the Tax Code extends the period to assess deficiency taxes to 10 years in cases when there is a false or fraudulent return with intent to evade tax, or the non-filing of a tax return,” it added.

The SC also noted that the BIR Commissioner exceeded its authority to investigate and examine the tax liabilities of the members of the Court, the CA and the CTA by requesting for certified copies of their SALNs.

The SC pointed out that Henares “failed to allege in particularity who she seeks to investigate; she had not given notice to those supposedly being investigated that they are being accused of fraud.”

It also noted that the request is silent as to the facts and the law on which she based her finding of fraud, to justify the application of the 10-year prescriptive period.

“Because fraud is never presumed and must be alleged and proven, the Court found it incredulous that the CIR seems to imply that all the Justices of the SC, the CA and the CTA are being investigated for tax fraud,” the SC stressed.