sc.judiciary.gov.ph/jurisprudence/2012/november2012/183553.pdf
"x x x.
Excise taxes partake of the nature of indirect taxes. Diageo bases its claim for refund on Section 130 of the Tax Code
which reads:
Section 130.Filing of Return and Payment of Excise Tax on
Domestic Products. – xxx
(A) Persons Liable to File a Return, Filing of Return on
Removal and Payment of Tax.-
(1) Persons Liable to File a Return. – Every person liable to pay excise tax imposed under this Title shall file a separate return for each place of production setting forth, among
others, the description and quantity or volume of products to be removed, the applicable tax base and the amount of tax due
thereon; Provided however, That in the case of indigenous
petroleum, natural gas or liquefied natural gas, the excise tax shall be paid by the first buyer, purchaser or transferee for local sale, barter or transfer, while the excise tax on exported products shall be paid by the owner, lessee, concessionaire or operator of the mining claim.Should domestic products be removed from the place of production without the payment of the tax, the owner or person having possession thereof shall be liable for the tax due thereon.
x xxx
(D) Credit for Excise tax on Goods Actually Exported.- When
goods locally produced or manufactured are removed and actually exported without returning to the Philippines, whether so exported in their original state or as ingredients or parts of any manufactured goods or products, any excise tax paid thereon shall be credited or refunded upon
submission of the proof of actual exportation and upon receipt of the corresponding foreign exchange payment:
Provided, That the excise tax on mineral products, except coal and coke, imposed under Section 151 shall not be creditable or refundable even if the mineral products are actually
exported.
A reading of the foregoing provision, however, reveals that contrary to the position of Diageo, the right to claim a refund or be credited with the excise taxes belongs to its supplier. The phrase “any excise tax paid thereon shall be credited or refunded” requires that the claimant be the same person
who paid the excise tax. In Silkair (Singapore) Pte, Ltd. v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue, the Court has categorically declared that “[t]he proper party to question, or seek a refund of, an indirect tax is the statutory taxpayer, the person on whom the tax is imposed by law and who paid the
same even if he shifts the burden thereof to another.”
Excise taxes imposed under Title VI of the Tax Code are taxes on property which are imposed on “goods manufactured or produced in the Philippines for domestic sales or consumption or for any other disposition and to things imported.”
Though excise taxes are paid by the manufacturer or producer before removal of domestic products from the place of production or by the owner or importer before the release of imported articles from the customshouse, the same partake of the nature of indirect taxes when it is passed on to the subsequent purchaser.
Indirect taxesare defined asthose wherein the liability for the payment of the tax falls on one person but the burden thereof can be shifted to another person. When the seller passes on the tax to his buyer, he, in effect, shifts the tax burden, not the liability to pay it, to the purchaser as part of the price of goods sold or services rendered.
Accordingly, when the excise taxes paid by the supplier were passed on to Diageo, what was shifted is not the tax per se but an additional cost of the goods sold. Thus, the supplier remains the statutory taxpayer even if Diageo, the purchaser, actually shoulders the burden of tax.
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