BIR files tax cases vs Manila contractor and Galera property owners

By CJ Sarmiento and Phres Evardone

Thursday 10th of May 2012

MANILA, May 10 (PIA) -- The Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) continues to intensify its Run After Tax Evaders (RATE) program with the filing of two new criminal cases at the Department of Justice (DOJ) today.

The said cases mark the 106th and 107th RATE cases filed under the leadership of BIR Commissioner Kim Jacinto-Henares.

In a press conference held at the DOJ, Henares said that the bureau has filed two separate cases of tax evasion against a contractor of the city of Manila for undeclared income and against property owners for fake deed of absolute sale of lots in Puerto Galera.

The contractor has allegedly failed to file his taxable income for the construction of public school buildings in Manila worth P54.26 million in 2009, Henares said. BIR assessed a total tax deficiency income for the contractor amounting to P30.35 million.

Meanwhile, the seller of the 1,700-square meter Galera lots has allegedly misdeclared the value of the property of P100,000 instead of its actual selling price of P13.8 million. The selling individual was charged by the BIR with an P8.93-million tax liability while the buying corporation needs to pay taxes worth P15.08 million.

Henares added that the bureau is expecting more cases to be filed with the on-going investigations among individuals and corporate entities who may have committed fraud and deliberate fraud of tax records.

RATE, initiated by the BIR in 2005, is the reactivated anti-tax evasion program of the BIR and determines how much a payer is liable to remit to the government in taxes. (CJS/PE-PIA GHQ)