Purchase of Tax-Free Gasoline

April 7, 1959 BIR RULING NO. 184-59 The Honorable The Secretary of National Defense Camp Murphy, Quezon City S i r : Reference is made to your letter dated February 18, 1959, requesting that commissioned officers of the Bureau of Coast and Geodetic Survey be allowed to purchase tax-free gasoline for use of vehicles personally owned by them and used in the performance of their official duties, in the same way that members of the Armed Forces of the Philippines are so allowed. In answer thereto, I have the honor to inform you that, pursuant to the pertinent provisions of Republic Act No. 2080, or the current Appropriation Act, all purchases made by the Armed Forces of the Philippines exclusively for military purposes shall be tax free. In order to give effect to said provisions, which has allowed gasoline companies to sell and deliver petroleum products to the Armed Forces of the Philippines without adding to the purchase prices thereof the corresponding specific tax which they paid thereon, if such products will be used exclusively for military purposes. Likewise, this Office has allowed members of the Armed Forces to purchase gasoline, free of the specific tax, to be consumed by the vehicles personally owned by them, provided that such vehicles are used in the performance of their official duties which are necessarily military in character. (See Gen. Cir. No. V-196). The exemption provided for in Republic Act No. 2080 refers specifically to the Armed Forces budget. As the Bureau of Coast and Geodetic Survey operates on a different budget, there is no legal basis for extending to the officers thereof a similar exemption. Accordingly, and as the aforesaid commissioned officers are not members of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, this Office cannot extend to them the benefits of the exempting provisions of Republic Act No. 2080. Section 195 of Executive Order No. 94, series of 1947, which was incorporated in Republic Act No. 2057, does not treat of any matter relating to taxation. Such being the case, it is believed that it cannot be made the basis of tax exemption in favor of commissioned officers of the Bureau of Coast and Geodetic Survey. Very truly yours, (SGD.) JOSE ARAAS Commissioner of Internal Revenue