Garcia, Michael P.

Michael P. Garcia, a partner, is a member of the Firm’s Securities and Taxation Departments. His practice focuses on taxation, corporate law, capital markets, and dispute resolution.

Mike has extensive tax experience and regularly advises domestic and foreign clients on various tax issues, including the tax implications of transaction structures.

He also represents clients in appeals against tax assessments and in pursuing judicial claims for tax refund or issuance of a tax credit certificate before local trial courts, Court of Tax Appeals (CTA), Court of Appeals, and Supreme Court. Some of the cases handled by Mike have led to reforms in Philippine taxation law and practice, such as: (i) the institution of CTA preliminary hearing proceedings for purposes determining if the methods employed to assess or collect taxes are not sanctioned by existing laws, which is a ground for the CTA to dispense with the requirement to post a bond prior to the suspension of tax collection during the pendency of an appeal; (ii) the clarification of the definition of “fair market value” for purposes of determining the donor’s tax due on the transfer of domestic shares not traded in the Philippine Stock Exchange; and (iii) the assignment of default final withholding tax rates on dividend payments to stockholders of listed corporations in the absence of documents establishing the identity of, and preferential tax treatment applicable to, the affected stockholders.

In addition to the foregoing, he represents clients before various government agencies, including the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR), Securities and Exchange Commission, and Department of Justice.

Mike received his bachelor’s degree in Management Economics with a minor in Philosophy from the Ateneo de Manila University in 2004, and his juris doctor degree (Second Honors, Ranked 3rd in class) from the same university in 2008. In 2018, he received his Master of Laws (LL.M) degree in International Taxation from New York University School of Law as a Gerald L. Wallace Fund Scholar for International Taxation.

He was admitted to the Philippine bar in 2009 and joined the firm in 2010. He is a Director of the Tax Management Association of the Philippines, a Philippine Dispute Resolution Center – Trained Arbitrator, a member of the International Fiscal Association, and an adjunct professor at the Ateneo Law School.