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021 Commissioner of Internal Revenue vs.

Primetown
GR 162155, August 28, 2007
TOPIC: Legal periods
PONENTE: CORONA

NOTES: (Lumabas to sa Diagnostic exam)


Pursuant to EO 292 or the Administrative Code of 1987, a
year shall be understood to be 12 calendar months and the
number of days is irrelevant.

FACTS:
1. Gilbert Yap, Vice Chair of Primetown applied on March 11, 1999 for a refund or credit of income tax which Primetown
paid in 1997. He claimed that they are entitled for a refund because they suffered losses that year due to the increase of
cost of labor and materials, etc. However, despite the losses, they still paid their quarterly income tax and remitted
creditable withholding tax from real estate sales to BIR. Hence, they were claiming for a refund.
2. On May 13, 1999, revenue officer Elizabeth Santos required Primetown to submit additional documents to which
Primetown complied with. However, its claim was not acted upon which prompted it to file a petition for review in CTA on
April 14, 2000.
3. CTA dismissed the petition as it was filed beyond the 2-year prescriptive period for filing a judicial claim for tax refund
according to Sec 229 of NIRC. According to CTA, the two-year period is equivalent to 730 days pursuant to Art 13 of
NCC. Since Primetown filed its final adjustment return on April 14, 1998 and that year 2000 was a leap year, the petition
was filed 731 days after Primetown filed its final adjusted return. Hence, beyond the reglementary period.
4. Primetown appealed to CA. CA reversed the decision of CTA. Hence, this appeal.
ISSUE(S): W/N petition was filed within the two-year period
HELD: YES. A calendar month is a month designated in the calendar without regard to the number of days it may contain.
It is the period of time running from the beginning of a certain numbered day up to, but not including, the corresponding
numbered day of the next month, and if there is not a sufficient number of days in the next month, then up to and including
the last day of that month. To illustrate, one calendar month from December 31, 2007 will be from January 1, 2008 to
January 31, 2008; one calendar month from January 31, 2008 will be from February 1, 2008 until February 29, 2008.
RATIO:
The SC affirmed the CAs reversal but ruled that the basis for the reversal is EO 292 of the Administrative Code of 1987, a
more recent law, which provides that a year is composed of 12 calendar months.
Section 31 provides that a year shall be understood to be 12 calendar months. Both article 13 of the Civil Code and
Section 31 of the Administrative Code of 1987 deal with the same subject matter the computation of legal periods.
Under the Civil Code, a year is equivalent to 365 days whether it be a regular year or a leap year. Under the Administrative
Code of 1987, however, a year is composed of 12 calendar months and the number of days is irrelevant. There obviously
exists a manifest incompatibility in the manner of computing legal periods under the Civil Code and the Administrative
Code of 1987. For this reason, the Supreme Court held that Section 31, Chapter VIII, Book I of the Administrative Code of
1987, being the more recent law, governs the computation of legal periods.
Using this, the petition was filed on the last day of the 24th month from the day the taxpayer filed its final adjusted return.
CASE LAW/ DOCTRINE:
The SC defined a calendar month as a month designated in the calendar without regard to the number of days it may
contain
DISSENTING/CONCURRING OPINION(S):

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