Compania General De Filipinas v. Collector, 279 U.S. 306 (1929)

Compania General de Filipinas v. Collector of Internal Revenue


No. 335


Argued March 1, 1929
Decided April 8, 1929
279 U.S. 306

CERTIORARI TO THE SUPREME COURT
OF THE PHILIPPINE ISLANDS

Syllabus

1. Under § 10 of the Philippine Income Tax Law (Act 2833, March 7, 1919, as amended by Act 2926, March 20, 1920) imposing a tax upon income received from sources within the Philippine Islands by foreign corporations doing business there, income derived from the sale of goods exported from the Islands and sold in the United States is "from sources within the Philippine Islands," and properly taxed as such, where the sales are made subject to confirmation and absolute control as to price and other terms and conditions by the Philippine office, and the confirmation is given by that office direct to the buyer or is otherwise the final act consummating the sales. P. 308.

2. In a suit to recover income taxes alleged to have been illegally exacted under § 10 of the Philippine Income Tax Law, imposing a tax upon income derived from sources within the Philippine Islands by foreign corporations doing business there, this Court will not construe a stipulation reciting that the income in question was from goods "sold" in the United States to mean that the income was not from sources within the Philippines and not subject to tax where the phraseology of the stipulation is ambiguous, and fails to disclose precisely how the business was done. P. 309.

3. The burden is on him who seeks the recovery of a tax already paid to establish those facts which show its invalidity. P. 310.

4. The judgment of a territorial court on questions of fact or of local law will be reversed only upon a clear showing of error. P. 310.

Affirmed.

Certiorari, 278 U.S. 591, to the Supreme Court of the Philippine Islands to review a decision which reversed a judgment for petitioner allowing recovery of income taxes alleged to have been illegally exacted.