G.R. No. 185728 - COMMISSIONER OF INTERNAL REVENUE, VS. TEAM (PHILIPPINES) OPERATIONS CORPORATION [FORMERLY MIRANT (PHILIPPINES) OPERATIONS CORPORATION].D E C I S I O N - Supreme Court E-Library

Ruling

accordingly developed an expertise on the subject, unless there has been an abuse or improvident exercise of authority. [15] After a thorough review of the case, we find no abuse or improvident exercise of authority on the part of the CTA in granting respondents claim for tax refund. In the present case, petitioner insists that the fact of withholding had not been established since the original copies of the Certificates of Creditable Tax Withheld at Source were not submitted to the CTA and that the payors or withholding agents or the persons who prepared and executed the Certificates of Creditable Tax Withheld at Source were not presented to prove the authenticity of the certificates. Petitioners contention fails to persuade us. It should be stressed that respondent presented the original copies of the Certificates of Creditable Tax Withheld at Source to the court-commissioned ICPA who examined the original copies and certified that the copies submitted to the CTA as evidence were faithful reproductions of the original certificates. Said procedure was in accordance with Rule 13 of the Revised Rules of the Court of Tax Appeals which provides, to wit: SEC. 2 . Duties of independent CPA . The independent CPA shall perform audit functions in accordance with the generally accepted accounting principles, rules and regulations, which shall include: (a) Examination and verification of receipts, invoices, vouchers and other long accounts; (b) Reproduction of, and comparison of such reproduction with, and certification that the same are faithful copies of original documents, and pre-marking of documentary exhibits consisting of voluminous documents ; (c) Preparation of schedules or summaries containing a chronological listing of the numbers, dates and amounts covered by receipts or invoices or other relevant documents and the amount(s) of taxes paid; (d) Making findings as to compliance with substantiation requirements under pertinent tax laws, regulations and jurisprudence; (e) Submission of a formal report with certification of authenticity and veracity of findings and conclusions in the performance of the audit; (f) Testifying on such formal report; and (g) Performing such other functions as the Court may direct. (Underscoring supplied.) Pursuant to the foregoing provision, respondent presented the pre-marked copies of the Certificates of Creditable Tax Withheld at Source (Exhibits G, H, I and J) issued by MPagC and MSC for the year 2002 together with other pertinent documents and which was identified and verified by the court-commissioned ICPA to be faithful reproductions of the original documents which it had examined and scrutinized. In the succeeding section, Section 3 of the same rule, it was provided that the submission by the independent CPA of pre-marked documentary evidence shall be subject to verification and comparison with the original documents, the availability of which shall be the primary responsibility of the party possessi