REMEDIES by J.
Dimaampao PROTEST AGAINST ASSESSMENT
REMEDIES OF THE GOVERNMENT
Assessment and Collection:
 An assessment contains not only a computation of
tax liabilities but also a demand for payment
within the prescribed period. It also signals the
time when the penalties and interests begin to
accrue against the taxpayer. To enable the
taxpayer to determine his remedies thereon, due
process requires that it must be served on and
received by the taxpayer.
 Assessments are prima facie presumed correct
and made in good faith. It is the taxpayer and not
the BIR who has the duty of proving otherwise.
 Even as assessment based on estimates is prima
facie valid and lawful where it does not appear to
have been arrived at arbitrarily or capriciously.
 (BEST EVIDENCE OBTAINABLE) does not include
mere photocopies of records/documents
STATUTE OF LIMITATIONS
 If there are several issues involved in the formal
letter of demand and assessment notice but the
taxpayer only disputes or protests against the
validity of some of the issues raised, the taxpayer
shall be required to pay the deficiency tax or taxes
attributable to the undisputed issues, which case,
a collection letters of the issue to the taxpayer
calling for payment of the set deficiency tax,
inclusive of the applicable surcharge and/or
interest.
o No action should be taken on the
taxpayer’s disputed issues until the
taxpayer has paid the deficiency tax or
taxes attributable to the undisputed
issues.
o The prescribed period for assessment or
collection of the tax or taxes attributable
to the disputed issues shall be suspended
 If what was filed was a wrong with her, the 10-
year prescriptive period will still apply
 If the return was amended substantially, the
period starts from the filing of the amended return
 A judicial action for the collection of tax is begun
by the filing of the complaint with the proper CFI
or where the assessment is appealed to the CTA,
by filing an answer to the taxpayer’s petition for
review where in the payment of the tax is prayed
for.
 (PRIMA FACIE EVIDENCE OF
FALSE/FRAUDULENT RETURN) Substantial
underdeclaration of taxable sales, receipts or
income, or a substantial overstatement of
deductions.
o Failure to report sales in an amount
exceeding 30% of that declared per
return
o Claim of deductions in an amount
exceeding 30% of actual deductions
 (SUSPENSION OF PRESCRIPTIVE PERIODS) the
taxpayer’s renunciation of the right to invoke
prescription as a defense, although executed
beyond the prescriptive, is binding upon the
taxpayer.
 The sending of a PAN the taxpayer to inform him
of the assessment made is but a part of the due
process requirement in the issuance of a
deficiency tax assessment, the absence of which
renders nugatory any assessment made by the tax
authorities
 In case of denial, the BIR must move by confident
evidence that the FAN was duly received by the
taxpayer
o It has been settled that while a mailed
letter is deemed received by the
addressee in the course of mail, this is
merely a disputable presumption subject
to controversion, the direct denial of
which shifts the burden to the sender to
prove that the mailed letter was in fact
received
 A “decision” differs from an “assessment”, and
failure of the FDDA to state the facts and law on
which is based renders the decision void - but not
necessarily the assessment
CLAIM FOR REFUND
 (TWO-FOLD PURPOSE OF TAX REFUND)
o First, to afford the collector an
opportunity to correct the action of
subordinate officers; and
o Second, to notify the government that
such taxes have been questioned, and the
noticed should then be borne in mind in
estimating the revenue available for
expenditure
 The proper party to question or seek a refund of
the tax is the statutory taxpayer, the person on
whom the tax is imposed by law and paid the
same even if he ships the burden thereof to
another.
o Even if Petron passed to Silkair the
burden of the tax, the additional amount
billed to Silkair for jet fuel is not a tax but
part of the price which Silkair had to pay
as a purchaser
 (TWIN PRESCRIPTIVE PERIOD) In claims for
refund, it is necessary that the tax be in full, and
that the claim for refund in the BIR as well as the
proceeding in the CTA be commenced within two
years counted from the payment of tax
 When the tax is paid in installments, the
prescriptive period of two years shall be counted
from the date of final payment
o The filing of QUARTERLY INCOME TAX
RETURNS and payment of quarterly
income tax should only be considered
mere installments of the annual tax due
 In a corporate dissolution, the two-year
prescriptive period should be counted thirty days
from the approval by the SEC of its plan for
dissolution
 The taxpayer need not await the final
resolution of the administrative claim for
refund before resorting to appropriate judicial
claim
 *****(SAN ROQUE DOCTRINE) the reference in
Section 112(C) of the submission of documents “in
support of the application filed in accordance with
subsection (A)” means that the application in
Section 112(A) is the administrative claim that the
1
 Commissioner must decide within 120-day period
(under TRAIN, 90-day period).
o In short the two-year prescriptive period
in Section 112(A) refers to the period
within which the taxpayer can find an
administrative claim for tax refund or
credit. Stated otherwise, the two-year
prescriptive period does not refer to the
filing of the additional claim with the CPA
but to the filing of the administrative
claim with the Commissioner
o The taxpayer will always have 30 days to
file the judicial claim even if the
Commissioner acts only on the 120 th day,
or does not act at all during the 120-day
period.
o Failure to comply with the 120-day
waiting period violates the doctrine of
exhaustion of administrative remedies
and renders the petition premature and
this without a cause of action, with the
effect that the CTA does not acquire
jurisdiction over the taxpayer’s action.
o The 120-day mandatory period may
extend beyond the two-year period for
filing a claim for refund/tax credit under
Sec. 112(A) of the NIRC.
 *****(EXCEPTIONS TO THE 120-DAY PERIOD) –
Based on equitable estoppel:
1. BIR Specific Ruling which misleads a
particular taxpayer to prematurely file a
judicial claim with the CTA
2. General interpretative rule such as DA-
489-03, which misleads all taxpayers into
filing prematurely judicial claims with the
CTA
