Lin) v. Islands

BUTTE, J.:

This is an appeal by the Collector of Internal Revenue from an order of the Court of First Instance of Manila dated October 2, 1933, in special proceedings No. 41435, directing the administrator of the estate of Tomas Siy Cong Bieng (alias Siy Chong Lin), deceased, to pay an inheritance tax to be based on the value of the property of the estate as appraised by the commissioners on claims and appraisals. The Collector of Internal Revenue, through the Solicitor-General, filed in said special proceedings a motion for the reconsideration of said order, which is as follows: Comes now the Collector off Internal Revenue by the undersigned Solicitor-General and respectfully prays that the order of this court dated October 2, 1933, be reconsidered on the following grounds: That on October 2, 1933, this court issued an order requiring the administrator to pay the corresponding inheritance tax in this case based on the value of the properties of the estate as appraised by the commissioners of claims and appraisals in their report; That the court issued said order upon the theory that the Collector of Internal Revenue can no longer question the value given by the commissioners to said properties for the purpose of assessing that inheritance tax, in view of the fact that the report of said commissioners and the project of partition in this case had been approved by this court; That the Bureau of Internal Revenue has never been notified of the report submitted by the commissioners in this case, and that said report, in so far as the value of the properties fixed by the commissioners is concerned, is not binding upon the Collector of Internal Revenue; That the law governing the determination of the value of the property of a deceased, for purposes of taxation, is section 1542 of the Administrative Code, which provides that the assesses value of the property as shown by the tax rolls shall be taken as the minimum, in relation with regulations No. 42, section 7, of the Department of Finance, promulgated in accordance with the Inheritance Tax Law, which reads: As a general rule the valuation of the estate given by the committee of appraisals and allowance may be taken as the fair market value of the estate unless otherwise shown by proper evidence that such is not the case.

The administrator or the heirs shall show that the said valuation is true and correct, or adduce proof that it is not so and prove the true valuation, the Collector of Internal Revenue reserving the right to accept either or substitute his own valuation upon which the taxes shall be based. For this purpose, however, the assessed value of the estate as shown by the tax rolls shall be taken as the minimum." (Emphasis ours.) That when the Collector of Internal REvenue was informed by the administrator in this case of the order of this court requiring the latter to pay the inheritance tax that may be due from the estate in these proceedings, said Collector immediately proceeded to assess the corresponding inheritance tax as required by law; That the inheritance tax assessed by the Collector of Internal Revenue in this case is P57,914.81 as evidenced by the proof of debt subscribed and sworn to be the Collector of Internal Revenue hereto attached and made a part hereof as Exhibit A; That the administrator had already been notified by the Collector of Internal REvenue of the inheritance tax assessed against the estate as stated in the preceding paragraph but failed to pay the same; That said tax of P57,914.81 bears an interest of 1 per cent per month from February 24, 1933, the date the administrator was notified of its assessment, to the date of payment.

Wherefore, the undersigned prays that the order of this court dated October 2, 1933, be reconsidered and the administrator be ordered to pay said sum of P57,914.81 as inheritance tax, plus 25 per cent surcharge thereon of P14,478.70, and 1 per cent monthly interest on said sum of P57,914.81 from February 24, 1933, to the date of payment. Manila, October 31, 1933. To this motion is attached a sworn proof of debt in which the Collector of Internal Revenue certifies that the estate of the said deceased is debted to the Government of the Philippine Islands for inheritance tax, surcharge and interest, upon the following valuations of the estate: Real property P65,221.00 Personal property 481,569.89 Total inventoried property .

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