CTA orders Valenzuela to refund NLEX PHP3.8M for wrongly collected taxes

The Court of Tax Appeals (CTA) has ordered Valenzuela City to refund NLEX Corporation PHP3.8 million for erroneously collected taxes from 2012 to 2019.

In a decision dated November 18, the court ruled that signage services do not qualify as branches or sales offices under the Local Government Code of 1991, and thus no valid collection of local business tax could have been made.

The CTA determined that all transactions and income from NLEX's signages are accounted for at its main office in Caloocan City, not Valenzuela City.

Associate Justices Ma. Belen Ringpis-Liban and Maria Rowena Modesto-San Pedro concurred with the decision, emphasizing that local government units can only levy charges on a company’s main office or branches where transactions are made.

NLEX is a unit of Metro Pacific Tollways Corp., which is part of Hong Kong-based First Pacific Co. Ltd.'s Philippine operations.