BIR Ruling No. 078-12

February 15, 2012 BIR RULING NO. 078-12 Revenue Bulletin No. 1-2003; BIR Ruling No. [DA-(DT-040) 442-09] National Housing Authority MRH Site, Block 1, Villa Grande Homes Concepcion Grande, Naga City Attention: Albert A. Perfecto Regional Manager Gentlemen : This refers to your letter dated December 02, 2009 requesting for exemption from payment of documentary stamp tax from the sale of all residential lots of the National Housing Authority (NHA) Region V pursuant to Republic Act (RA) No. 7279 and BIR Regulations No. 11-97. ESITcH It is petitioned that, in as much NHA implements socialized housing projects and caters to the lowest 30% income earners, the foregoing request be approved and be made available to all beneficiaries of NHA Region V without the need for individual application by every recipient since there have been precedent cases and resolutions which already granted the exemption. In reply, please be informed that Section 2 (t) of Revenue Bulletin 1-2003 dated July 14, 2003, provides as follows: " Section 2. List of No-ruling Areas . The following shall be construed and identified as 'No-ruling Areas': xxx xxx xxx t) Request for rulings on issue/s or transactions based on hypothetical situations ; xxx xxx xxx (Emphasis supplied) " Based on the above, an application for tax exemption which is based on a hypothetical situation would fall under the "No-Ruling Areas". Considering that your request seeks to exempt from tax all sales of residential lots to be sold by NHA Region-V, the application contemplates future sale of residential lots. This is a hypothetical case which evidently falls within the cases covered by Section 2 of Revenue Bulletin 1-2003 because there is no taxable income yet for which a tax exemption may be sought. Furthermore, this Office does not issue general exemption. A ruling is issued on a per transaction and case to case basis. A taxpayer applying for tax exemption has to submit supporting documents i.e. , Deed of Sale, Transfer Certificate of Title and Tax Declaration, together with his/its letter-request in order for this Office to assess the transaction before it can issue a ruling granting tax exemption. Hence, this Office declines to rule on the requested application. BIR Ruling No. [DA-(DT-040) 442-09] dated August 9, 2009 . Please be guided accordingly. AIHaCc Very truly yours, (SGD.) KIM S. JACINTO-HENARES Commissioner of Internal Revenue