BIR Ruling [DA-519-98]

November 20, 1998 BIR RULING [DA-519-98] Hon. Pablo M. Bautista Director-General Senate Tax Study and Research Office Senate of the Philippines Manila Dear Director Bautista : We would like to register our comment on Senate Bill No . 122 entitled " An Act Creating the Criminal Tax Courts and for Other Purposes ". One of the objectives for the creation of the criminal tax courts is to unclog the regular courts of too many criminal cases by creating courts with special tax and customs law expertise in order that criminal cases involving violations of tax and customs laws will be exclusively handled by them, thus resulting to speedy disposition thereof. aisadc Ideally, the creation of criminal tax courts is a welcome development in our judicial system. However, the jurisdiction of the Tax Court as provided under Section 5(1) of the Bill may not serve the objective above-mentioned. The provision which limits the Courts' jurisdiction only to " All crimes arising from violations of the National Internal Revenue Code, regulations promulgated by the Secretary of Finance pursuant to Section 245 thereof, and other tax laws or part of the law administered by the Bureau of Internal Revenue if the amount due, exclusive of penalties, interest and surcharges, is not less than One hundred thousand pesos (P100,000 . 00) " is very restricted in scope so that a greater bulk of the criminal violations under the Tax Code will still remain with the regular courts. It would seem from the provision mentioned that only the crime defined under Section 254 of the Tax Code of 1997 (Attempt to Evade or Defeat Tax) will be filed with the Tax Court because of the phrase " if the amount due, exclusive of penalties, interest and surcharges, is not less than One hundred thousand pesos (P100,000 . 00) ". It is suggested that all crimes and offenses defined under Title X, Chapters II, III and IV shall be taken cognizance by the Criminal Tax Courts while the civil aspects of tax cases shall remain with the Court of Tax Appeals. Thank you for soliciting our comments/suggestions. cd Very truly yours, (SGD.) BEETHOVEN L. RUALO Commissioner of Internal Revenue