11/02/2026
JUSTICE SAMUEL GAERLAN PENNED CASE!!⚖️👨⚖️
Republic vs. Robiegie Corporation
G.R. No. 260261, October 03, 2022
ISSUE: Whether substituting revenue officers named in the Letter of Authority (LOA) without issuing a new LOA is allowed.
RULING: The Supreme Court (SC) ruled that LOA is the authority given to the appropriate revenue officer assigned to perform assessment functions, which empowers or enables said revenue officer to examine the books of account and other accounting records of a taxpayer for the purpose of collecting the correct amount of tax. An LOA is premised on the fact that the examination of a taxpayer who has already filed his tax returns is a power that statutorily belongs only to the CIR himself or his duly authorized representatives.
Hence, the practice of reassigning or transferring revenue officers originally named in the LOA and replacing them with new revenue officers to continue the investigation without a separate LOA is not allowed as (i) violates the taxpayer's right to due process in tax audit or investigation; (ii) usurps the statutory power of the Commissioner of Internal Revenue (CIR) or his duly authorized representative to grant the power to examine the books of account of a taxpayer; and (iii) does not comply with existing Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) rules and regulations on the requirement of an LOA in the grant of authority by the CIR or his duly authorized representative to examine the taxpayer's books of accounts. Therefore, absent a new LOA, findings or assessments by substituted revenue officers are null and void ab initio.
