Petition for Review before the Court of Tax Appeals (CTA) for refund should be filed within thirty (30) days from the receipt of the decision of the Commissioner of Internal Revenue (CIR) or upon the expiration of the one hundred twenty (120) days in case of inaction of the CIR.

The taxpayer filed a judicial claim two (2) days after it filed its administrative claim for refund or tax credit for unutilized input Value-added tax (VAT). The CIR claims that the CTA has no jurisdiction to entertain the petition for failure to await the expiration of the 120-day period provided under Section 112(C) of the 1997 National Internal Revenue Code. (NIRC) The taxpayer is of the view that the two year-period prescriptive period applies to both administrative and judicial claims and that the 120 day-period in Section 112 of NIRC is only directory and need not be complied when the 2-year prescriptive period is about to expire. The Court ruled that the petition was prematurely filed and the taxpayer lacks cause of action. Petition for Review before the CTA for refund should be filed within thirty (30) days from the receipt of the decision of the CIR or upon the expiration of the one hundred twenty (120) days in case of inaction of the CIR. Thus, it failed to exhaust the administrative remedy which is a condition precedent before taking judicial action. (Crescent Park 19-1 Property Holdings, Inc. vs. Commissioner of Internal Revenue, CTA Case No. 8057, December 07, 20111)