Bloomberry Resorts Corporation, operator of the Solaire Resort in Entertainment City, has been ordered to pay PHP49 million ($880,000) over allegedy deficiency documentary stamp tax (DST) by the Philippines Court of Tax Appeals.
The amount includes surcharges and interest over the loans and advances it gave its non-resident foreign affiliate companies.
According to the nation’s Tax Code, the loans and advances Bloomberry granted to its non-resident foreign corporation affiliates Solaire Korea Co., Ltd. and Golden & Luxury Co. Ltd. should have been subject to the DST.
However, Bloomberry argued that its Tax Code did not cover such loans and advances because Solaire Korea Co., Ltd., and Golden & Luxury Co. Ltd., were not residents of the Philippines and hence were not required to pay such tax.
The court was not persuaded by Bloomberry, pointing out that ‘this contention fails to persuade. Its (Bloomberry) involvement as an obligee made the transaction one that arises from Philippine sources under Section 173. Thus, even if the obligors are non-resident foreign corporations, since the petitioner, the obligee, is a domestic corporation organized under Philippine laws, the said loans and advances clearly involve “obligation or right arising from Philippine sources.’
