Payment Made by Benguet Consolidated, Inc. to Baguio City

November 25, 1960 BIR RULING NO. 513-60 The Provincial Treasurer Bontoc, Mountain Province S i r : Reference is made to your 1st Indorsement dated August 16, 1960, as well as the letter forwarded therewith dated July 20, 1960 of the Municipal Treasurer of Itogon, that province, stating that the Benguet Consolidated, Inc. had paid to the City Treasurer, Baguio City, the second installment of its income tax for 1959; that the income tax return of said corporation was filed with the first installment of its income tax paid to the Municipal Treasurer of Itogon; that the principal business of the corporation is being carried on within the jurisdiction of Itogon; and that the main office thereof is located in said municipality. For those reasons, you now request this Office to credit Itogon and that province with their respective participation in said payment made by the Benguet Consolidated, Inc. to Baguio City. cdll In answer thereto, I have the honor to quote hereunder the pertinent portion of the opinion rendered by the Secretary of Justice on the matter: ". . . provinces and municipalities are entitled to the special allotment in the excess of income tax collections made therein over the collections for the basic year 1959 provided for in Section 360 of the National Internal Revenue Code, regardless of whether the income tax has been paid in municipalities other than where the income tax returns have been or should have been filed. Since the law on where the income tax returns are to be filed is merely directory, and as there is no specific legal provision requiring payment of the tax at the place where tax return has been filed, the mere fact that the income tax returns have been filed elsewhere should not be a compelling reason for depriving the provinces and municipalities of the special allotment in the excess of income tax payments made therein . . . ." (Opinion No. 175, s. 1960). In the light of the aforequoted opinion, and on the assumption that Benguet Consolidated, Inc. has also an office or place of business in Baguio City, this Office is constrained to deny your request. With respect to your claim that the collection of the tax in question had been done "presumably through the arrangement made by the city officials of Baguio with the management of the said mining Company" which, according to you, constitutes an encroachment that may "cause a lot of trouble and perhaps enmity and hatred", it is suggested that the matter be taken up with said officials. For that purpose, you may invite the Regional Director stationed at Baguio City who would only be willing to attend a conference arranged therefor as representative of this Office. A copy of this letter has, on even date, been furnished with appropriate instruction to said official. cdtech Very truly yours, MELECIO R. DOMINGO Commissioner of Internal Revenue