BIR Ruling No. 068-64

November 13, 1964 BIR RULING NO. 068-64 The Pioneer Song Lyric Publications, Inc. P. O. Box 1309 Manila Gentlemen : This refers to your request for the reconsideration of B.I.R. Ruling No. 63-0081 dated November 4, 1963, holding you liable to the 3% publishers' tax on your publication of songhits. LLphil In the questioned ruling, it was the view of this Office that while the songhits published by you may approximate a magazine in form, nevertheless, in substance, it is not the magazine contemplated by Section 191 of the Tax Code. We scrutinized very carefully the specimens submitted by you and we observed that the publications appear at regular intervals with fixed prices for subscription and sales; that they contain editorials, news and other featured articles; and that they are not devoted principally to the publication of advertisements. Such features quite impress us to realize that the publication in question are after all magazines both in form and substance. In view of the foregoing and considering that as early as 1955 this Office had already ruled that publishers of songhits are exempt from the 3% tax and considering further, that this Office had recently held that publishers of comics magazines are likewise exempt, we are constrained to reconsider Ruling No. 63-0081 and to adopt the earlier ruling exemption publishers of songhits magazines from the 3% tax. Accordingly, as publishers of songhits magazines you are exempt from the 3% publishers' tax prescribed by Section 191 of the Tax Code pursuant to the exemption therein provided. Ruling No. 63-0081 is hereby superseded. LLjur Very truly yours, (SGD.) BENJAMIN N. TABIOS Acting Commissioner of Internal Revenue