Shell to seek legal remedies on P3.5-B tax case

MANILA, Philippines - Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corp. will seek legal remedies following a decision by the Court of Tax Appeals to pay over P3.5 billion in excise tax for the importation of raw gasoline materials for the years 2006 to 2009.

“We will avail all legal remedies available to us,” Pilipinas Shell communications and social performance manager Cesar Abaricia said in a text message to reporters.

In a 42-page decision Thursday, the CTA altered an earlier resolution of its third division that stopped the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) and the Bureau of Customs (BOC) from collecting billions worth of excise tax from PSPC.

This stemmed from a petition filed by the oil firm in 2009 asking for the nullification of a demand letter of then BIR commissioner Joel Tan-Torres.

In his petition, Torres ordered Pilipinas Shell to pay P7.3 billion in excise and value added tax (VAT) when it imported catalytic cracked gasoline (CCG) and light catalytic cracked gasoline (LCCG) from 2004 to 2009.

CCG and LCCG are intermediate or raw gasoline products used as blending components to produce gasoline in compliance with the Clean Air Act of 1999.

Ruling on the 2009 petition, the CTA third division sided sided with Pilipinas Shell and enjoined the BIR and the BOC from collecting the taxes.

But on Thursday, the CTA modified the initial ruling and ordered the oil firm to pay the taxes for importations made from 2006 to 2009. ‘