8 FEBTC Vs CIR 138919 PDF

12/6/2020 SUPREME COURT REPORTS ANNOTATED VOLUME 488
*
G.R. No. 138919. May 2, 2006.
FAR EAST BANK AND TRUST COMPANY as Trustee of

Various Retirement Funds, petitioner, vs.
COMMISSIONER OF INTERNAL REVENUE and THE
COURT OF APPEALS, respondents.
Appeals; Pleadings and Practice; The requirement that

certified true copies of such portions of the record referred to in the
petition be attached is not a mere technicality that can be
overlooked with ease, but an essential requisite for the
determination of prima facie basis for giving due course to the
petition.—It should be remembered that it is only when the
petition has been given due course, after a prima facie finding
that the CTA had committed errors of fact or law that would
warrant reversal, that the case record would be transmitted from
the court of origin to the Court of Appeals. Clearly, upon the filing
of the petition, the appellate court would have no documentary
basis to discern whether the required prima facie standard has
been met except the petition itself and the documents that
accompany it.
_______________
* THIRD DIVISION.
474
474 SUPREME COURT REPORTS ANNOTATED
Far East Bank and Trust Company vs. Commissioner of Internal

Revenue
While the submissions in the petition may refer to other

documents in the record, or may even quote at length from those
documents, the Court of Appeals would have no way to ascertain
the veracity of the submissions unless the certified true copies of
central.com.ph/sfsreader/session/000001763805083e08d3ffc9003600fb002c009e/t/?o=False 1/21
these documents are attached to the petition itself. Thus, the

requirement that certified true copies of such portions of the
record referred to in the petition be attached is not a mere
technicality that can be overlooked with ease, but an essential
requisite for the determination of prima facie basis for giving due
course to the petition. Thus, it does not constitute error in law
when the Court of Appeals dismissed the petition on such ground.
Moreover, while the court a quo is capacitated to give cognizance
to the belated compliance attempted by petitioner, acquiescence to
such belated compliance is a matter of sound discretion on the
part of the lower court, and one not ordinarily disturbed by the
Court.
Taxation; Employees’ Trusts; The exemption for income tax of
income from employees’ trusts still stands.—We hold, as the CTA
did, that the exemption from income tax of income from
employees’ trusts still stands. The Court had first recognized such
exemption in the aforementioned CIR v. Court of Appeals, 207
SCRA 487 (1992) case, arising as it did from the enactment of
Republic Act No. 4917 which granted exemption from income tax
to employees’ trusts. The same exemption was provided in
Republic Act No. 8424, the Tax Reform Act of 1997, and may now
be found under Section 60(B) of the present National Internal
Revenue Code. Admittedly, such interest income of the petitioner
for 1993 was not subject to income tax. Still, petitioner did pay
the income tax it was not liable for when it withheld such tax on
interest income for the year 1993. Such taxes were erroneously
assessed or collected, and thus, Section 230 of the National
Internal Revenue Code then in effect comes into full application.
Same; Same; Pleadings and Practice; Supplemental
Complaints; It is only upon the admission by the court of the
supplemental complaint that it may be deem to augment the
original complaint—until such time, the court acquires no
jurisdiction over such new claims as may be raised in the
supplemental complaint.—In this case, there is no doubt that the
CTA has jurisdiction over actions seeking the refund of income
taxes erroneously paid. But it should be borne in mind that
petitioner initially sought to bring its claim for
475
VOL. 488, MAY 2, 2006 475

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refund for the taxes paid in 1993 through a supplemental petition

in another case pending before the CTA, and not through an
original action. The admission of supplemental pleadings,
including supplemental complaints, does not arise as a matter of
right on the petitioner, but remains in the sound discretion of the
court, which is well within its right to deny the admission of the
pleading. Section 6, Rule 10 of the 1997 Rules of Civil Procedure,
governing supplemental pleadings, is clear that the court only
“may” admit the supplemental pleading, and is thus not obliged to
do so. It is only upon the admission by the court of the
supplemental complaint that it may be deem to augment the
original complaint. Until such time, the court acquires no
jurisdiction over such new claims as may be raised in the
supplemental complaint. Assuming that the CTA erred in
refusing to admit the Supplemental Petition, such action is now
beyond the review of this Court, the order denying the same
having long lapsed into finality, and it appearing that petitioner
did not attempt to elevate such denial for judicial review with the
proper appellate court. We thus cannot treat the Supplemental
Petition as having any judicial effect. It cannot even be deemed as
having been filed, the CTA refusing to admit the same. Moreover,
the CTA could not have acquired jurisdiction over the causes of
action stated in the Supplemental Petition by virtue of the same
pleading owing to that court’s non-admission of that complaint.
The CTA acquired jurisdiction over the claim for refund for taxes
paid by petitioner in 1993 only upon the filing of the new Petition
for Review on 9 October 1995.
Same; Same; Court of Tax Appeals; Evidence; The
appreciation of facts made by the Court of Tax Appeals (CTA),
which exercises particular expertise on the subject of tax, generally
binds the Supreme Court.—We agree with the CIR that petitioner
should have instead submitted documentary proof of transactions,
such as confirmation receipts and purchase orders, as the best
evidence on the participation of the funds from these employees
trusts. The appreciation of facts made by the CTA, which
exercises particular expertise on the subject of tax, generally
binds this Court. It may not be so, as the CIR contends, that the
proper purpose for presenting such documents is to establish that
the funds were actually invested “in treasury bills and money
market placements,” since the character of the investments does
not detract from the fact that all income earned by the employees’
trusts is exempt from taxation. Instead, these documents are vital
insofar as they establish the extent of the invest-
476

Revenue
ments made by petitioner from the employees’ trusts, as

distinguished from those made from other account sources, and
correspondingly, the amount of taxes withheld from the interest
income derived from these employees’ trusts alone.
Same; Same; Tax Refunds; A necessary consequence of the
special exemption enjoyed alone by employees’ trusts would be a
necessary segregation in the accounting of such income, interest or
otherwise, earned from those trusts from that earned by the other
clients of the trustee; Tax refunds partake the nature of tax
exemptions and are thus construed strictissimi juris against the
person or entity claiming the exemption.—Petitioner argues that
the testimony of its witnesses establishes that it would be next to
impossible to single out the particular transactions involving
exempt employees’ trusts, in view of the manner of lumping all
the data in the reporting procedures of the withholding agents,
particularly concerning treasury bills. While that may be so, a
necessary consequence of the special exemption enjoyed alone by
employees’ trusts would be a necessary segregation in the
accounting of such income, interest or otherwise, earned from
those trusts from that earned by the other clients of petitioner.
The Court has no desire to impose unnecessarily pernickety
documentary requirements in obtaining a valid tax refund. Yet it
cannot be escaped that the taxpayer needs to establish not only
that the refund is justified under the law, but also the correct
amount that should be refunded. If the latter requisite cannot be
ascertained with particularity, there is cause to deny the refund,
or allow it only to the extent of the sum that is actually proven as
due. Tax refunds partake the nature of tax exemptions and are
thus construed strictissimi juris against the person or entity
claiming the exemption. The burden in proving the claim for
refund necessarily falls on the taxpayer, and petitioner in this
case failed to discharge the necessary burden of proof.
PETITION for review on certiorari of the resolutions of the

Court of Appeals.
The facts are stated in the opinion of the Court.

Siguion Reyna, Montecillo & Ongsiako for petitioner.
477
VOL. 488, MAY 2, 2006 477

Far East Bank and Trust Company vs. Commissioner of

Internal Revenue
TINGA, J.:
The present petition evokes some degree of natural

sympathy for the petitioner, as it seeks the refund of taxes
wrongfully paid on the income earned by several
retirement funds of private employees held by petitioner in
their behalf. The steps undertaken by petitioner to seek the
refund were woefully error-laden, yet their claims still
received due solicitation from this Court. But in the end,
the errors committed are just too multiple as well as
consequential, and the claim for refund not sufficiently
proven. Impulses may suggest that we reverse and grant,
but logic and the law dictate that the Court affirm the
assailed rulings of the Court of Appeals and the Court of
Tax Appeals.
Before us is a Petition for Review on Certiorari filed by
petitioner Far East Bank & Trust Company, assailing the
Resolutions of the Court of Appeals Fifth Division dated 12
1
January 1999 and 3 June 1999. The Resolution of 12
January 1999 dismissed outright, on procedural grounds, a
petition for review filed by petitioner questioning a
Decision of the Court of Tax Appeals dated 11 September
2
1998.
While the petition before us primarily seeks the review
of the procedural grounds on which the petition before the
Court of Appeals was denied, it stems from a claim for
refund lodged by petitioner against the Commissioner of
Internal Revenue (CIR) on taxes on interest income
withheld and paid to the CIR for the four (4) quarters of
1993, arising from investments derived from money market
placements, bank deposits, deposit substitute instruments
and government securities made by petitioner as the
trustee of various retirement funds.
_______________
1 Both penned by then Associate Justice (now Presiding Justice) Ruben

T. Reyes, concurred in by Associate Justices Salome A. Montoya and Eloy
R. Bello, Jr.
2 Decision penned by Associate Judge Amancio Q. Saga, concurred in
by Presiding Judge Ernesto D. Acosta and Associate Judge Ramon O. De
Veyra.
478

Internal Revenue
Petitioner is the trustee of various retirement plans

established by several companies for its employees. As
trustee of the retirement plans, petitioner was authorized
to hold, manage, invest and reinvest the assets of these
3
plans. Petitioner utilized such authority to invest these
retirement funds in various money market placements,
bank deposits, deposit substitute instruments and
government securities. These investments necessarily
earned interest income. Petitioner’s claim for refund
centers on the tax withheld by the various withholding
agents, and paid to the CIR for the four (4) quarters of
1993, on the aforementioned interest income. It is alleged
that the total final withholding tax on interest
4
income paid
for that year amounted to P6,049,971.83.
On four dates, 12 May 1993, 16 August 1993, 31
January 1994, and 29 April 1994, petitioner filed its
written claim for refund with the Bureau of Internal
Revenue (BIR) for the first, second, third and fourth
quarters of 1993, respectively. Petitioner cited this Court’s
“precedent setting” decision in Commissioner of Internal
5
Revenue v. Court of Appeals, prom-
_______________
3 See Rollo, p. 19.

4 Petitioner alleges before us that the retirement plans from which it
invested funds in 1993 were the Filipinas Synthetic Fiber Corporation
Employees Retirement Plan; Mercury Group of Companies Provident
Fund; Xavier School Employees Retirement Plan; Asian Institute of
Management Employees Provident Fund; Consolidated Industrial Gases,
Inc., Employees Retirement Plan; Semirara Coal Corporation Employees
Retirement Plan; Toyo Menka Kaisha Ltd., Manila Branch Employees
Retirement Plan; Sea Commercial Co., Inc. Employees Retirement Plan;
AG & P Retirement Plan; La Suerte Cigar and Cigarette Factory
Employees Retirement Plan; PNOC Group of Companies Employees
Retirement Plan; SGV and Company Provident Fund; Universal Textile
Mills, Inc., Retirement Plan; Mitsui & Co., Ltd. Gratuity Plan; Phil.
Affilliated Companies (CIGNA) Retirement Plan; Philippine Carpet
Manufacturing Corp. Retirement Plan; and Colgate Palmolive Phils., Inc.
Employees Provident Fund. See Rollo, pp. 19-20.
5 G.R. No. 95022, 23 March 1992, 207 SCRA 487.
479
VOL. 488, MAY 2, 2006 479

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ulgated on 23 March 1992, said case holding that

employees’ trusts are exempted by specific mandate of law
from income taxation. Nonetheless, the claims for refund
were denied.
By this time, petitioner already had a pending petition
before the Court of Tax Appeals (CTA), docketed as CTA
Case No. 4848, and apparently involving the same legal
issue but a previous taxable period. Hoping to comply with
the two (2)-year period within which to file an action for
refund under Section 230 of the then Tax Code, petitioner
6
filed a Motion to Admit Supplemental Petition in CTA
Case No. 4848 on 28 April 1995, seeking to include in that
case the tax refund claimed for the year 1993. However, the
CTA denied the admission of the Supplemental
7
Petition in
a Resolution dated 25 August 1995. The CTA reasoned
then that CTA Case No. 4848 had already been pending for
more than two and a half (2 ½) years, and the admission of
the supplemental petition, with a substantial enlargement
of petitioner’s original claim for refund, would further delay
the proceedings, causing as it would, an effective change in
the cause of action. Nonetheless, the CTA advised that
petitioner could instead file a separate petition for8 review
for the refund of the withholding taxes paid in 1993.
Petitioner decided to follow the CTA’s advice, and on 9
October 1995, it filed another petition for review with the
CTA, docketed as CTA Case No. 5292, concerning its claim
for refund for the year 1993. The CIR posed various
defenses,
_______________
6 Petitioner alleges in its petition that what it filed before the CTA was
the Supplemental Petition itself, see Rollo, p. 21, but the Resolution of the
CTA dated 25 August 1995, infra, clearly indicates that the Supplemental
Petition was actually accompanied by a Motion to Admit Supplemental
Petition. See Rollo, p. 81.
7 Id., at pp. 81-82. Resolution signed by Presiding Judge Ernesto D.
Acosta and Associate Judges Ramon O. De Veyra and Manuel K. Gruba.

8 Id.
480

Internal Revenue
among them, 9
that the claim for refund had already
prescribed. Trial ensued.
On 11 September 1998, the CTA promulgated its
decision in CTA Case No. 5292, denying the claim for
refund for the year 1993. While the CTA noted that the
income from employees’ trust funds were exempt from
income taxes, the claims for refund had already prescribed
insofar as they covered the first, second and third quarters
of 1993, as well as from the period of 1 October to 8 October
1993. The CTA so ruled considering that the petition before
it was filed only on 9 October 1995, and thus, only those
claims that arose after 9 October 1993 could be considered
in light of the two (2)-year prescriptive period for the filing
of a judicial claim for refund from the date of payment
10
of
the tax, as provided in Section 230 of the Tax Code.
As to the claim for refund covering the period 9 October
1993 up to 31 December 1993, the CTA likewise ruled that
such could not be granted, the evidence being insufficient
to establish the fact “that the money or assets of the funds
were indeed used or placed in money market placements,
bank deposits, other deposit substitute instruments and
government securities, more particularly treasury bills.”
The CTA noted that petitioner merely submitted as its
evidence copies of the following documents: the list of the
various funds; the schedule of taxes withheld on a
quarterly basis in 1993; the written claims for refund; the
BIR Rulings on the various Retirement Plans; the trust
agreements of the various retirement plans; and
certifications of the Accounting Department of petitioner,
Citibank, and the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas as to the
11
taxes that they respectively withheld.
The CTA faulted petitioner for failing to submit such
necessary documentary proof of transactions, such as
confirma-
_______________
9 Id., at p. 125.
10 Id., at p. 128.
11 Id., at pp. 128-129.
481
VOL. 488, MAY 2, 2006 481

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tion receipts and purchase orders that would ordinarily

show the fact of purchase of treasury bills or money market
placements by the various funds, together with their
individual bank account numbers. These various
documents which petitioner failed to submit were
characterized as “the best evidence on the participation of
the funds, and without them, there is no way for this Court
to verify the actual involvement of the funds in the alleged
investment in treasury bills and money market
12
placements.” The CTA also held as insufficient for such
purposes the certifications issued by Citibank, BSP, and
petitioner’s own Accounting Department, considering that
the aggregate amount of the final withholding taxes to
which they attest totalled more than P40,000,000.00, in
comparison to the present claims of only around
P6,000,000.00. The CTA thus concluded that such
certifications included non-tax exempt or otherwise taxable
transactions, the sums of which were conglomerated with
the amount that may have actually been refundable.
Petitioner filed a Motion for Reconsideration and/or New
Trial, which the13 CTA denied in a Resolution dated 4
December 1998. Petitioner then filed a Petition for
Review under Rule 43 with the Court of Appeals. However,
this petition was denied outright by the appellate court in
its Resolution dated 12 January 1999. The Court of
Appeals held that petitioner had failed to observe the
requirement, under Section 2, Rule 42 of the 1997 Rules of
Civil Procedure that the petition should be accompanied by
other material portions of the record as would support the
allegations of the petition. The Court of Appeals
particularly mentioned the following documents omitted by
the petitioner in its petition: the Supplemental Petition,
the CTA Resolution denying the admission of the
Supplemental Petition, the new Petition filed with the
CTA, 14and the Motion for Reconsideration and/or New
Trial.
_______________
12 Id., at p. 129.
13 Id., at pp. 143-146.
14 Id., at pp. 53-54.
482

Internal Revenue
Petitioner moved for reconsideration of the adverse

decision of the Court of Appeals, attaching to its motion the
required certified copies of the cited documents.
Nonetheless, the Court of Appeals denied the motion for
reconsideration through a Resolution dated 3 June 1999,
holding that the belated compliance did not cure the defect
of the petition. Moreover, the Court of Appeals also noted
that it had taken a “closer look at the petition” and on that
basis concluded that the CTA Decision contained no
15
reversible error.
Hence, the present petition, which we deny.
Petitioner argues that it was error on the part of the
Court of Appeals16
to have dismissed its petition “on a mere
technicality.” Yet the dismissal engaged in by the Court
of Appeals on procedural grounds is wholly sanctioned by
the relevant provisions of the Rules of Court. Section 6 of
Rule 43, 1997 Rules of Civil Procedure, then governing the
procedure of 17
appeals from decisions of the CTA to the Court
of Appeals, explicitly provides that the petition for review
be accompanied by “certified true copies of such material
portions of the record referred to [in the petition] and other
supporting papers.” Under Section 7, Rule 43, the failure to
attach such documents which should accompany the
petition is sufficient ground for the dismissal of the
petition.
It should be remembered that it is only when the
petition has been given due course, after a prima facie
finding that the CTA had committed errors of fact or law
18
that would warrant reversal, that the case record would
be transmitted
19
from the court of origin to the Court of
Appeals. Clearly, upon the filing of the petition, the
appellate court would have no docu-
_______________
15 Id., at p. 56.
16 Id., at p. 23.
17 At present, Republic Act No. 9282, enacted in 2004, mandates that
decisions of the CTA are to now be directly elevated to the Supreme Court
for review.
18 See RULES OF CIVIL PROCEDURE, Section 10, Rule 43.

19 See RULES OF CIVIL PROCEDURE, Section 11, Rule 43.
483
VOL. 488, MAY 2, 2006 483

Internal Revenue
mentary basis to discern whether the required prima facie

standard has been met except the petition itself and the
documents that accompany it. While the submissions in the
petition may refer to other documents in the record, or may
even quote at length from those documents, the Court of
Appeals would have no way to ascertain the veracity of the
submissions unless the certified true copies of these
documents are attached to the petition itself.
Thus, the requirement that certified true copies of such
portions of the record referred to in the petition be attached
is not a mere technicality that can be overlooked with ease,
but an essential requisite for the determination of prima
facie basis for giving due course to the petition. Thus, it
does not constitute error in law when the Court of Appeals
dismissed the petition on such ground. Moreover, while the
court a quo is capacitated to give cognizance to the belated
compliance attempted by petitioner, acquiescence to such
belated compliance is a matter of sound discretion on the
part of the lower court, and one not ordinarily disturbed by
the Court.
Even assuming that the procedural errors may be
overlooked, we still agree with the Court of Appeals in
holding in the Resolution of 3 June 1999 that the CTA
committed no reversible error in its assailed decision.
We hold, as the CTA did, that the exemption from
income tax of income from employees’ trusts still stands.
The Court had first recognized such exemption in the
20
aforementioned CIR v. Court of Appeals case, arising as it
did from the enactment of Republic Act No. 4917 which
21
granted exemption from income tax to employees’ trusts.
The same exemption was provided in Republic Act No.
8424, the Tax Reform Act of 1997, and may now be found
under Section 60(B) of the present National Internal
Revenue Code. Admittedly, such inter-
_______________
20 Supra note 5.
21 Id., at pp. 495-496.
484

Internal Revenue
est income of the petitioner for 1993 was not subject to

income tax.
Still, petitioner did pay the income tax it was not liable
for when it withheld such tax on interest income for the
year 1993. Such taxes were erroneously assessed or
collected, and thus, Section 230 of the National Internal
Revenue Code then in effect comes into full application.
The provision reads:
SEC. 230. Recovery of tax erroneously or illegally collected.—No

suit or proceeding shall be maintained in any court for the
recovery of any national internal revenue tax hereafter alleged to
have been erroneously or illegally assessed or collected, or of any
penalty claimed to have been collected without authority or of any
sum alleged to have been excessive or in any manner wrongfully
collected, until a claim for refund or credit has been duly filed
with the Commissioner; but such suit or proceeding may be
maintained, whether or not such tax, penalty, or sum has been
paid under protest or duress.
In any case, no such suit or proceeding shall be begun
after the expiration of two years from the date of payment
of the tax or penalty regardless of any supervening cause
that may arise after payment: Provided, however, That the
Commissioner may, even without a written claim therefor, refund
or credit any tax, where on the face of the return upon which
payment was made, such payment appears clearly to have been
erroneously paid. (emphasis supplied)
The CTA noted that since the petition for review was only
filed on 9 October 1995, petitioner could no longer claim the
refund of such tax withheld for the period of January to 8
October 1993, the two (2)-year prescriptive period having
elapsed. Petitioner submits that the two (2)-year
prescriptive period should be reckoned from the date of its
filing of the Supplemental Petition on 28 April 1995, not
from the filing of its new petition22 for review after the
Supplemental Petition was denied. Even granting that
this should be the case, such
_______________
22 Rollo, p. 29.
485
VOL. 488, MAY 2, 2006 485

Internal Revenue
argument would still preclude the refund of taxes

wrongfully paid from January to 27 April 1993, the two (2)-
year prescriptive period for those taxes paid then having
already become operative.
Yet could the two (2)-year prescriptive period for the
refund of erroneously paid taxes be deemed tolled by the
filing of the Supplemental Petition? Petitioner argues that
Section 230 of the then Tax Code does not specify the form
in which the judicial claim should be made. That may be so,
but it does not follow that the two (2)-year period may be
suspended by the filing of just any judicial claim with any
court. For example, the prescriptive period to claim for the
refund of corporate income tax paid by a Makati-based
corporation cannot be suspended by the filing of a
complaint with the Municipal Circuit Trial Court of
Sorsogon. At the very least, such judicial claim should be
filed with a court which would properly have jurisdiction
over the action for the refund.
In this case, there is no doubt that the CTA has
jurisdiction over actions seeking the refund of income taxes
erroneously paid. But it should be borne in mind that
petitioner initially sought to bring its claim for refund for
the taxes paid in 1993 through a supplemental petition in
another case pending before the CTA, and not through an
original action. The admission of supplemental pleadings,
including supplemental complaints, does not arise as a
matter of right on the petitioner, but remains in the sound
discretion of the court, which is well within its right to
deny the admission of the pleading. Section 6, Rule 10 of
the 1997 Rules of Civil Procedure, governing supplemental
pleadings, is clear that the court only “may” admit the
supplemental pleading, and is thus not obliged to do so.
It is only upon the admission by the court of the
supplemental complaint that it may be deem to augment
the original complaint. Until such time, the court acquires
no jurisdiction over such new claims as may be raised in
the supplemental complaint. Assuming that the CTA erred

in refusing to
486

Internal Revenue
admit the Supplemental Petition, such action is now

beyond the review of this Court, the order denying the
same having long lapsed into finality, and it appearing that
petitioner did not attempt to elevate such denial for judicial
review with the proper appellate court.
We thus cannot treat the Supplemental Petition as
having any judicial effect. It cannot even be deemed as
having been filed, the CTA refusing to admit the same.
Moreover, the CTA could not have acquired jurisdiction
over the causes of action stated in the Supplemental
Petition by virtue of the same pleading owing to that
court’s non-admission of that complaint. The CTA acquired
jurisdiction over the claim for refund for taxes paid by
petitioner in 1993 only upon the filing of the new Petition
for Review on 9 October 1995.
Yet, let us assume again, this time, that the filing of the
Supplemental Petition could have tolled the two (2)-year
prescriptive period insofar as the 1993 taxes paid after 28
April 1993 were concerned. There may even be cause to
entertain this assumption, considering that this two (2)-
year prescriptive period is not jurisdictional and may be
23
suspended under exceptional circumstances. Yet a closer
look at the case does not indicate the presence of such
exceptional circumstances, but instead affirm that the
petition is still bereft of merit.
The CTA evinced palpable discomfort over the
sufficiency of the evidence presented by petitioner to
establish its claim for refund. It noted as follows:
“As regards the third issue, this Court is convinced that the
evidence of the petitioner for the remaining portion of the claim
for the fourth quarter of 1993 is insufficient to establish the fact
that the money or assets of the funds were indeed used or placed
in money market placements, bank deposits, other deposit
substitute
_______________
23 See Commissioner of Internal Revenue v. Philamlife, 314 Phil. 349, 363; 244
SCRA 446, 453 (1995); citing Oral & Dental College v. Court of Tax Appeals, 102
Phil. 912 (1957) and Panay Electric Co. v. Collector, 103 Phil. 819 (1958).
487
VOL. 488, MAY 2, 2006 487

Revenue
instruments and government securities, more particularly

treasury bills.
To prove its case, petitioner merely submitted copies of the
following documents, namely:
Exhibit
1. List of the various funds A
2. Schedule of taxes withheld on B
a quarterly basis in 1993
3. Written claims for refund C-C4
D-D4
E-E4
F-F4
4. BIR Rulings on the various G-Y
Retirement Plans at bar
5. Trust agreements of the Z-RR
various Retirement Plans
6. Certifications of the Accounting SS-UU49,
Department of petitioner, Citibank, inclusive
and Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas
on the taxes they respectively withheld
It is to be noted from the above listed exhibits that

documentary proof of transactions, such as confirmation receipts
and purchase orders which would ordinarily show the fact of
purchase of treasury bills or money market placements by the
various funds, together with their individual bank account
numbers, were not submitted in evidence by the petitioner. They
represent the best evidence on the participation of the funds and
without them, there is no way for this Court to verify the actual
involvement of the funds in the alleged investment in the
24
treasury bills and money market placements.”
Clarifications are in order. The cited passage may seem to

implicitly assume that only such income earned by the
employees’ trusts from money market placements, bank
deposits, other deposit substitute instruments and

government securi-
_______________
24 Rollo, pp. 128-129.
488

Internal Revenue
ties are exempted from income taxation. This is contrary to

the provisions in Republic Act No. 4917, which then stood
as the governing provision on income tax exemption of
employees’ trusts:
SECTION 1. Any provision of law to the contrary

notwithstanding, the retirement benefits received by official and
employees of private firms, whether individual or corporate, in
accordance with a reasonable private benefit plan maintained by
the employer shall be exempt from all taxes and shall not be
liable to attachment, levy or seizure by or under any legal or
equitable process whatsoever except to pay a debt of the official or
employee concerned to the private benefit plan or that arising
from liability imposed in a criminal action; x x x
The tax exemption enjoyed by employees’ trusts was

absolute, irrespective of the nature of the tax. There was no
need for the petitioner to particularly show that the tax
withheld was derived from interest income from money
market placements, bank deposits, other deposit substitute
instruments and government securities, since the source of
the interest income does not have any effect on the
exemption enjoyed by employees’ trusts.
What has to be established though, as a matter of
evidence, is that the amount sought to be refunded to
petitioner actually corresponds to the tax withheld on the
interest income earned from the exempt employees’ trusts.
The need to be determinate on this point especially
militates, considering that petitioner, in the ordinary
course of its banking business, earns interest income not
only from its investments of employees’ trusts, but on a
whole range of accounts which do not enjoy the same broad
exemption as employees’ trusts.
It clearly bothered the CTA that the submitted

certifications from Citibank, the BSP, and petitioner’s own
Accounting Department attest only to the total amount of
final withholding taxes remitted to the BIR. Evidently, the
sum includes not only such taxes withheld from the
interest income of the exempt employees’ trusts, but also
from other transac-
489
VOL. 488, MAY 2, 2006 489

Internal Revenue
tions between petitioner and the BSP or Citibank which

are not similarly exempt from taxation. For these
certifications to hold value, there is particular need for
them to segregate such taxes withheld from the interest
income of employees’ trusts, and those withheld from other
income sources. Otherwise, these certifications are
ineffectual to establish the present claim for refund.
The weak evidentiary value of these certifications
proved especially fatal, as no other documentary evidence
was submitted to establish that the withholding agents
actually withheld interest income earned from the
employees’ trusts administered by petitioner. The other
evidence submitted by petitioner merely establishes the
fact that it administered various named employees trusts,
the particular trust agreements between petitioner and
these trusts, its requests for refund from the BIR and their
consequent denials. Petitioner did submit a schedule of
taxes withheld on a quarterly basis for the year 1993, but
this document was apparently prepared by petitioner itself,
and its self-serving nature precludes from according it any
authoritative value.
We agree with the CIR that petitioner should have
instead submitted documentary proof of transactions, such
as confirmation receipts and purchase orders, as the best
evidence on the participation of the funds from these
employees trusts. The appreciation of facts made by the
CTA, which exercises particular expertise on the subject of
25
tax, generally binds this Court. It may not be so, as the
CIR contends, that the proper purpose for presenting such
documents is to establish that the
_______________
25 See Commissioner of Internal Revenue v. Court of Appeals, 361 Phil.
103, 115-116; 301 SCRA 152, 168 (1999); citing Philippine Refining
Company v. Court of Appeals, 326 Phil. 680; 256 SCRA 667 (1996);
Commissioner of Internal Revenue v. Court of Appeals, 312 Phil. 337; 242
SCRA 289 (1995); Commissioner of Internal Revenue v. Philippine
American Life Insurance Co., 244 SCRA 446 (1995); Court of Industrial
Relations v. Administratrix of the Estate of Echarri, 67 Phil. 502 (1939).
490

Internal Revenue
funds were actually invested “in treasury bills and money

market placements,” since the character of the investments
does not detract from the fact that all income earned by the
employees’ trusts is exempt from taxation. Instead, these
documents are vital insofar as they establish the extent of
the investments made by petitioner from the employees’
trusts, as distinguished from those made from other
account sources, and correspondingly, the amount of taxes
withheld from the interest income derived from these
employees’ trusts alone.
Petitioner argues that the testimony of its witnesses
establishes that it would be next to impossible to single out
the particular transactions involving exempt employees’
trusts, in view of the manner of lumping all the data in the
reporting procedures of the withholding agents,
particularly concerning treasury bills. While that may be
so, a necessary consequence of the special exemption
enjoyed alone by employees’ trusts would be a necessary
segregation in the accounting of such income, interest or
otherwise, earned from those trusts from that earned by
the other clients of petitioner. The Court has no desire to
impose unnecessarily pernickety documentary
requirements in obtaining a valid tax refund. Yet it cannot
be escaped that the taxpayer needs to establish not only
that the refund is justified under the law, but also the
correct amount that should be refunded. If the latter
requisite cannot be ascertained with particularity, there is
cause to deny the refund, or allow it only to the extent of
the sum that is actually proven as due. Tax refunds
partake the nature of tax exemptions and are thus
construed strictissimi juris against the person or entity
26
26
claiming the exemption. The burden in proving the claim
for refund necessarily falls on the taxpayer,
_______________
26 See e.g., Commissioner of Internal Revenue v. S.C. Johnson & Son,

Inc., 368 Phil. 388, 411; 309 SCRA 87, 108 (1999); citing Commissioner of
Internal Revenue v. Tokyo Shipping Co., Ltd., 244 SCRA 332, 26 May
1995; Province of Tarlac v. Alcantara, 23 December 1992, 216 SCRA 790;
Magsaysay Lines, Inc. v. Court of Appeals, 12 August 1996, 260 SCRA 513.
491
VOL. 488, MAY 2, 2006 491

Internal Revenue
and petitioner in this case failed to discharge the necessary

burden of proof.
One argument remains. It can be dispensed with briefly.
Petitioner argues that the CTA should have granted its
motion for a new trial, which was premised on the claim
that certain documents had been misplaced during the
relocation of petitioner’s headquarters, and were located
27
only after the case was submitted for resolution. Section
1, Rule 37 of the 1997 Rules of Civil Procedure does allow
for a new trial on the ground that “newly discovered
evidence, which [movant] could not, with reasonable
diligence, have discovered and produced at the trial, and
which if presented would probably alter the result.”
However, as the CTA pointed out in its 4 December 1998
Resolution, the case was submitted for resolution with the
CTA only in May of 1998, or more than two (2) years since
the alleged transfer of headquarters by the petitioner. The
CTA also noted that during that time, petitioner “made no
visible attempt to retrieve the documents or at the very
28
least, inform this Court of such problem.” These
observations sufficiently rebut the claim that the alleged
newly discovered evidence could not have been located with
reasonable diligence.
It is tragic that the ultimate loss to be borne by the
tardy claim for the refund would be not by the petitioner-
bank, but the hundreds of private employees whose
retirement funds were reposed in petitioner’s trust.
However, the damage was sustained due to multiple levels
of incompetence on the part of the petitioner which this
Court cannot simply give sanction to. Many of the so-called

procedural hurdles could have been overlooked, even by
this Court, but in the end, the claim for tax refund was
simply not proven with the particularity demanded of an
action seeking to siphon off the nation’s “life-blood.”
_______________
27 Rollo, pp. 33-34.

28 Id., at pp. 145-146.
492

Aboitiz International Forwarders, Inc. vs. Court of Appeals
WHEREFORE, the petition is DENIED. Costs against

petitioner.
SO ORDERED.
Quisumbing |(Chairperson), Carpio, Carpio-

Morales and Velasco, Jr., JJ., concur.
Petition denied.
Notes.—An employee’s trust is a trust maintained by an

employer to provide retirement, pension, or other benefits
to its employees—it is a separate taxable entity established
for the exclusive benefit of the employees. (Development
Bank of the Philippines vs. Commission on Audit, 422
SCRA 459 [2004])
The burden of having to go through an unnecessary and
cumbersome refund process is prejudice enough.
(Commissioner of Internal Revenue vs. Benguet
Corporation, 463 SCRA 28 [2005])
——o0o——
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12/6/2020 SUPREME COURT REPORTS ANNOTATED VOLUME 488

FAR EAST BANK AND TRUST COMPANY as Trustee of

Appeals; Pleadings and Practice; The requirement that

474 SUPREME COURT REPORTS ANNOTATED

Far East Bank and Trust Company vs. Commissioner of Internal

While the submissions in the petition may refer to other

these documents are attached to the petition itself. Thus, the

VOL. 488, MAY 2, 2006 475

Far East Bank and Trust Company vs. Commissioner of Internal

refund for the taxes paid in 1993 through a supplemental petition

476 SUPREME COURT REPORTS ANNOTATED

Far East Bank and Trust Company vs. Commissioner of Internal

ments made by petitioner from the employees’ trusts, as

PETITION for review on certiorari of the resolutions of the

The facts are stated in the opinion of the Court.

VOL. 488, MAY 2, 2006 477

Far East Bank and Trust Company vs. Commissioner of

The present petition evokes some degree of natural

1 Both penned by then Associate Justice (now Presiding Justice) Ruben

478 SUPREME COURT REPORTS ANNOTATED

Petitioner is the trustee of various retirement plans

3 See Rollo, p. 19.

VOL. 488, MAY 2, 2006 479

ulgated on 23 March 1992, said case holding that

Acosta and Associate Judges Ramon O. De Veyra and Manuel K. Gruba.

480 SUPREME COURT REPORTS ANNOTATED

VOL. 488, MAY 2, 2006 481

tion receipts and purchase orders that would ordinarily

482 SUPREME COURT REPORTS ANNOTATED

Petitioner moved for reconsideration of the adverse

18 See RULES OF CIVIL PROCEDURE, Section 10, Rule 43.

VOL. 488, MAY 2, 2006 483

mentary basis to discern whether the required prima facie

484 SUPREME COURT REPORTS ANNOTATED

est income of the petitioner for 1993 was not subject to

SEC. 230. Recovery of tax erroneously or illegally collected.—No

VOL. 488, MAY 2, 2006 485

argument would still preclude the refund of taxes

the supplemental complaint. Assuming that the CTA erred

486 SUPREME COURT REPORTS ANNOTATED

admit the Supplemental Petition, such action is now

VOL. 488, MAY 2, 2006 487

instruments and government securities, more particularly

It is to be noted from the above listed exhibits that

Clarifications are in order. The cited passage may seem to

deposits, other deposit substitute instruments and

24 Rollo, pp. 128-129.

488 SUPREME COURT REPORTS ANNOTATED

ties are exempted from income taxation. This is contrary to

SECTION 1. Any provision of law to the contrary

The tax exemption enjoyed by employees’ trusts was

It clearly bothered the CTA that the submitted

VOL. 488, MAY 2, 2006 489

tions between petitioner and the BSP or Citibank which

25 See Commissioner of Internal Revenue v. Court of Appeals, 361 Phil.

490 SUPREME COURT REPORTS ANNOTATED

funds were actually invested “in treasury bills and money

26 See e.g., Commissioner of Internal Revenue v. S.C. Johnson & Son,

VOL. 488, MAY 2, 2006 491