COMELEC to file motion for reconsideration over P1B in deficiency withholding tax

The Commission on Elections (COMELEC) will be filing a Motion for Reconsideration (MR) after the Court of Tax Appeals (CTA) ruled it to pay over P1-billion in deficiency withholding tax, including interest, for 2015.

"Given the recent decision on the subject tax case, the COMELEC will be seasonably filing a Motion for Reconsideration (MR) with the Honorable Court of Tax Appeals (CTA) Division iterating our affirmative defenses and justifications to ensure sufficient emphasis and consideration thereof," COMELEC spokesperson and Education, and Information Department Director IV Atty. John Rex C. Laudiangco said in a statement.

He added that under the CTA Rules of Procedure, filing an MR is one of the remedies available to the COMELEC, a Petition for Review, and another MR after the initial MR filed with the Division.

"A Petition for Review on Certiorari may be filed with the Supreme Court, as may be appropriate and necessary, and should the situation further warrant," he said.

The Commission also underscored that its courses of action are justified given the circumstances attendant to the case.

"Said justifications will all be reincorporated and emphasized in our Motions and Pleadings to be filed as we intend to avail all remedies under the CTA Rules of Procedure and the Rules of Court," it said.

"In addition to the abovementioned statements, Chairman George Erwin M. Garcia created an Administrative Fact-finding Investigation Panel today to determine the culpability, whether criminal, civil, and administrative, of COMELEC personnel and officials who were responsible," COMELEC added.

On June 6, the CTA junked Comelec's Petition for Review of the Bureau of Internal Revenue's (BIR) December 2019 ruling affirming its March 2019 Final Decision on Disputed Assessment (FDDA).

The FDDA indicated that the BIR was liable to pay at least P1 billion deficiency withholding tax on compensation (WTC), expanded withholding tax (EWT), and withholding tax on government money payments, inclusive of interest for the taxable year 2015. -- BAP, GMA Integrated News