BIR Ruling

April 7, 1976 National Computer Center Camp Aguinaldo Quezon City Attention: Dr . P . F . Baraoidan Managing Director Gentlemen : This refers to your letter dated March 19, 1976 stating that an Asian Regional Preparatory Conference on Strategies and Policies for Informatics will be held in Manila on May 17-19, 1976; that this Conference which will be participated by some thirty (30) delegates from twenty Asian Countries is being hosted by the Philippine Government, through the National Computer Center, in cooperation with UNESCO and the Intergovernmental Bureau of Informatics (IBI), Rome; and that you have chosen the Makati Hotel as the place for billeting the said delegates. acd Under the foregoing circumstances, you now request for exemption from the payment of percentage taxes on their accommodation at the Makati Hotel. In reply, I have the honor to inform you that your request cannot be granted for lack of legal basis. The 3% and 7% taxes levied on the gross receipts from the sale of food and drinks which will be served to the participating delegates in accordance with Section 191-A of the Tax Code, and the 3% tax on hotel receipts prescribed in Section 191 of the same code, are taxes directly payable by the hotel operator and not on the NCC which incidentally foots the bills of the participating delegates. It may be stated in this connection, that the exemption from the internal revenue and science and documentary stamp taxes on hotel receipts and the 3% percentage tax on the hotel revenue from the hotel room occupancy granted by Presidential Decree No. 31, as implemented by Revenue Regulations No. 10-72 dated November 8, 1972 is accorded only to foreign tourists and travellers and only if the payment of the hotel room charges is effected in any of the acceptable foreign currencies. cdt Very truly yours, CONRADO P. DIAZ Acting Commissioner of Internal Revenue TAN-1182-568-4 "TAXPAYERS SHOULD INDICATE THEIR TAN IN ALL COMMUNICATIONS TO THE BIR."