Court orders Metrobank to pay P3.78B in back taxes

The Court of Tax Appeals has ordered Metropolitan Bank and Trust Co., the country's largest lender, to pay the Bureau of Internal Revenue P3.78 billion in back taxes plus penalties and interest. In an en banc decision penned by Associate Justice Castaneda Jr., the tax court ordered Metrobank to pay an additional 25 percent surcharge and 20 percent delinquency interest apart from the P3.78 billion. BIR deputy commissioner Gregorio Cabantac said the decision upholds an earlier CTA ruling that ordered Metrobank to pay the said amount representing documentary stamp taxes and deficiency gross receipts tax for its universal savings accounts, interbank call loans, and onshore income. Earlier, a source within the BIR revealed that Metrobank sought amnesty for its P1 billion DST liabilities after it filed an application to avail of the government’s one-time tax amnesty program under Republic Act 9480 otherwise known as the Tax Amnesty Act of 2007. Under the amnesty program that would run until March 6 next year, taxpayers would have to pay only five percent of the increase in its networth resulting from the amendment of its statement of assets, liabilities and networth (SALNs). However, BIR Commissioner Lilian Hefti made it clear that the agency would pursue the tax cases filed against commercial banks over unpaid DST despite the ongoing tax amnesty program. - GMANews.TV