7/25/2019 Accenture - Alcazar Digests

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ACCENTURE, INC. vs. COMMISSIONER OF INTERNAL REVENUE G.R. No.

190102 July 11, 2012

Facs!

Petitioner Accenture, a VAT registered entity, is a corporation engaged in

the business of providing management consulting,business strategies

development, and selling and/or licensing of software. The monthly and

quarterly VAT returns of Accenture showthat, notwithstanding its application of

the input VAT credits earned from its zerorated transactions against its output

VAT liabilities, itstill had e!cess or unutilized input VAT credits in the amount of

P"#,$"%,&'(.)%. Thus, Accenture filed with the *epartment of +inance*o+- an

administrative claim for the refund or the issuance of a Ta! redit ertificateT-. hen the *o+ did not act on the claim, Accenture filed a Petition for

0eview with TA praying for the issuance of a T in its favour.The 10

answered that the sale by Accenture of goods and services to its clients are not

zerorated transactions and that Accenture has failed to prove that it is entitled

to a refund, because its claim has not been fully substantiated or documented.

0ulingthat Accenture2s services would qualify for zerorating under the )((#

3ational 1nternal 0evenue ode of the Philippines Ta! ode-only if the recipient

of the services was doing business outside of the Philippines, the *ivision of the

TA ruled that since Accenturehad failed to present evidence to prove that the

foreign clients to which the former rendered services did business outside

thePhilippines, it was not entitled to refund.4n appeal before the TA en banc,

Accenture argued that because the case pertained to the third and the fourthquarters of ta!able year &$$&, the applicable law was the )((# Ta! ode, and

not 0.A. (""# and that prior to the amendment introduced by 0.A.-(""#, there

was no requirement that the services must be rendered to a person engaged in

business conducted outside the Philippinesto qualify for zerorating.

3evertheless, the TA en banc affirmed the decision of the division. 5ence this

present petition for reviewbefore the 6.

Issu"! ).6hould the recipient of the services be 7doing business outside the

Philippines7 for the transaction to be zerorated under 6ection )$%8-&- of the

)((# Ta! ode9

&.5as Accenture successfully proven that its clients are entities doing businessoutside the Philippines9

".1s Accenture entitled to ta! refund9

#"l$!

).0ecipient of services must be doing business outside the Philippines for the

transactions to qualify as zerorated. Accenture anchors its refund claim on

6ection ))&A- of the )((# Ta! ode, which allows the refund of unutilized input

VAT earnedfrom zerorated or effectively zerorated sales.

6:. ))&. 0efunds or Ta! redits of 1nput Ta!. A- ;ero0ated or :ffectively;ero0ated 6ales. Any VATregistered person, whose sales are zerorated or

effectively zerorated may,within two &- years after the close of the ta!able

quarter when the sales were made, apply for the issuance of a ta! credit

certificate or refund of creditable input ta! due or paid attributable to such sales,

e!cept transitional input ta!, to the e!tent that such input ta! has notbeen

applied against output ta!< Provided, however, That in the case of zerorated

sales under 6ection )$'A-&-a-)-, &- and 8- and6ection )$% 8-)- and &-,

the acceptable foreign currency e!change proceeds thereof had been duly

accounted for in accordance withthe rules and regulations of the 8ang=o 6entral

ng Pilipinas 86P-< Provided, further, That where the ta!payer is engaged in

zeroratedor effectively zerorated sale and also in ta!able or e!empt sale of

goods of properties or services, and the amount of creditable inputta! due orpaid cannot be directly and entirely attributed to any one of the transactions, it

shall be allocated proportionately on the basisof the volume of sales. 6ection

)$%8- referred to in the foregoing provision was first seen when Presidential

*ecree 3o. P.*.- )((>")amended Title 1V of P.*. ))?% which is also =nown as

the 3ational 1nternal 0evenue ode of )(##. 6everal *ecisions have referred

tothis as the )(%' Ta! ode, even though it merely amended Title 1V of the )(##

Ta! ode.

4n ) 3ovember &$$?, 6ection ' of 0.A. (""#, which amended the foregoing

provision, became effective. 1t reads