BIR Ruling

October 7, 1971 Embassy of the United States of America Roxas Boulevard, Manila Gentlemen : This refers to your Note dated October 1, 1971 requesting that the Contract of sale mentioned therein be exempted from documentary and science stamp taxes. Said Note was referred to this Office by the Department of Foreign Affairs with the recommendation that favorable action be taken on your request. acd It appears in the Contract of Sale that the Government of the United States of America, represented by his Excellency Henry A. Byroade, American Ambassador to the Philippines, is the Vendor and the Moonwalk Development & Housing Corporation, a resident corporation, represented by its President, Mariano Z. Velarde, is the Vendee; that the sale covers five (5) contingent parcels of land located at Roxas Boulevard Corner Del Pan Street, Pasay City; and, that one of the terms and conditions of the contract is that "the Vendor shall assume the expenses for the preparation of the deed of sale and such other documents as may be required or necessary in connection therewith, together with the cost of documentary and science stamps, if any, to be affixed thereon." The payment of the documentary and science stamp taxes became the direct liability of the Vendor, Government of the United States of America, when it undertook, under the Contract of Sale, the payment thereof. Such being the case, and it having been manifested by the Department of Foreign Affairs of the Philippines that the U.S. Government does not subject to tax similar transaction by the Republic of the Philippines in the United States, the abovementioned Contract of Sale is not subject to documentary and science stamp taxes on the basis of reciprocity. cdta Very truly yours, MISAEL P. VERA Commissioner of Internal Revenue