BIR wants to skirt DOJ stage in tax evasion cases
By Iris C. Gonzales (The Philippine
Star) Updated November 05, 2012 12:00 AM
MANILA, Philippines - The Bureau of
Internal Revenue (BIR) wants to have the power to file tax evasion cases
against individuals and companies without going through the Department of
Justice (DOJ), a ranking official said.
This is among the reforms the BIR
wants to pursue in the long run even as officials conceded it would take time
for such a major initiative to be implemented.
In an interview, BIR assistant
commissioner James Roldan said such reform would boost the fight against tax
evasion.
But Roldan conceded it would take time
and may face a lot of opposition.
“We would have to push for the
amendment of the National Internal Revenue Code (NIRC),” Roldan said.
At present, the NIRC mandates the BIR
to file a complaint first before the Department of Justice which would assess
if there are grounds for the filing of a tax evasion case.
Roldan said this takes time.
More than the lengthy procedure, he
said, there are times when the BIR complaints are dismissed by the Justice
department due to a difference in assessment between BIR and DOJ lawyers.
Under its Run After Tax Evaders (RATE)
program, the BIR has been filing before the Justice department tax evasion
cases against erring individuals and companies.
It hopes to collect P50.773 billion in
unpaid taxes from 133 cases it has so far filed before the DOJ since the
beginning of the Aquino administration in 2010.
Since 2005, a total of 258 cases have
been filed under the program.
Data from the BIR showed that of the
total number of cases, at least 26 have been resolved by the Department of
Justice and 14 have been filed in court.
Some 52 cases have been submitted for
resolution while others are still for assignment or are still in the
preliminary investigation stage.
Among the high-profile cases is the
tax evasion case against former chief justice Renato Corona, his daughter and his
son-in-law.
The BIR said it would continue to file
tax evasion cases at the Justice department once every two weeks to send a
message to delinquent taxpayers that the agency is serious in boosting
collections.
Accounting for 70 percent of
government revenues, the BIR hopes to collect P1.066 trillion this year.
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Tax evasion charges filed vs ex-chief justice
Posted on August 30, 2012 10:28:19 PM
[ BusinessWorld Online ]
BY SIEGFRID O. ALEGADO, Reporter
FORMER CHIEF JUSTICE Renato C. Corona,
his daughter and son-in-law were yesterday charged by the Bureau of Internal
Revenue (BIR) with tax evasion totaling over ₱150 million.
Internal Revenue Commissioner Kim S.
Jacinto-Henares told a briefing that Mr. Corona, who was ousted more than two
months ago, was charged before the Justice department "for willful attempt
to evade or defeat tax and for deliberate failure to file… income tax
returns" for the years 2003-2005, 2007-2008 and 2010.
The same evidence -- Statement of
Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth (SALN), deeds of sale, and bank accounts --
presented during Mr. Corona’s five-month impeachment trial were indicated by
the BIR in its charge sheet.
Mr. Corona on May 29 was found guilty
of betraying public trust for failing to declare his true SALN.
His tax deficiency has been set at
₱120.5 million, the BIR said in a statement.
The amount was arrived at "by
comparing the increase in his net worth with his reported taxable income over
time," it further noted
Also facing tax evasion charges were
Mr. Corona’s daughter Ma. Carla Beatriz C. Castillo and husband Constantino T.
Castillo III with alleged income tax liabilities of ₱20.24 million and ₱9.93
million, respectively.
The Castillos were dragged into the
impeachment trial after the bureau found out that they bought certain
properties named after Mr. Corona.
Mr. Corona allegedly earned more than
what he declared, Ms. Henares said, noting the discrepancy in his declared
income per alphalist (₱26.45 million) and true net worth (₱161.15 million). An
alphalist indicates the list of employees, their compensation and taxes
withheld.
A taxpayer is not required to file an
income tax return (ITR) for purely compensation income under the BIR’s
substituted scheme, but other income aside from compensation should be
declared, the revenue agency said.
A BIR investigation further showed
that Mr. Corona allegedly undervalued three of his properties and underdeclared
cash by ₱17.3 million and ₱134.44 million, respectively, as well as failed to
declare two other properties valued at ₱12.75 million.
The BIR also said Mr. Castillo
supposedly "failed to file his ITR for taxable year 2003… and deliberately
understated his ITR in the year 2009," while Ms. Castillo "failed to
file an… ITR for the taxable year 2010."
The cases were filed as a result of
the BIR’s Run After Tax Evaders program.
Mr. Corona, meanwhile, said he and his
family "have long expected" the filing of charges, as they "have
been exchanging communications with the BIR and have complied with their
deadlines."
"As a man of law, I will abide by
the processes… We will respond accordingly…," he said in a text message to
reporters, adding that they are awaiting the service of subpoena and complaint.
"By the grace of God, we will
overcome. This too will come to pass," Mr. Corona noted.
Mr. Corona was an appointee of then
president now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, but his assumption to the
highest judicial post was rocked by controversy as it was done during an
election ban on appointments. The appointment was, however, upheld by the
Supreme Court which ruled that its justices are exempt from the constitutional
restriction. He was impeached by the House of Representatives in December last
year.
________________________________________________________________
BIR to hire 4,000 accountants, collection agents
Published on 21 August 2012 [ manilatimes.net ]
Written by Raffy Ayeng, Reporter
TO further improve tax collection, the
Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) will hire 4,000 more personnel to be deployed
in the field, particularly certified public accountants, collection officers
and lawyers.
According to BIR Commissioner Kim
Jacinto-Henares, the additional workforce will be detailed in mobile offices
such as mall kiosks nationwide.
The new personnel will increase the
BIR workforce of 12,000 to 16,000.
“We need to hire more people because
other than the fact that some employees die, retire and resign, we also have to
keep up with the demand brought about by the large and increasing number of
taxpayers all over the country,” Henares said.
The bureau is strengthening its Run
After the Tax Evaders Program. Given personnel constraints, the agency had
focused on “big” tax evaders.
“Of course there are many people that
we are running after. It’s just a matter of timing, and prioritizing the big
ones. We are only few at the BIR, as compared to the number of taxpayers,”
Henares said.
“We have a lot of programs on the
table especially in the areas of enforcement, monitoring as well as making
payment of taxes easier for the people. In order to either continually compel
or encourage them to pay their respective taxes in good faith we have to hire
more people to sustain our goals,” she added.
Reymarie de la Cruz, head of the
bureau’s tax information and education division, said that the number of
registered individual taxpayers as of last year was 18,957,477, compensation
income earners numbered 10,254,400 and professional taxpayers, 1,821,599. There
were 615,734 corporate taxpayers, and various taxpayers numbering 6.26 million,
including estates and trusts; marginal income earners or those who are earning
less than P100,000 a year; and those with one-time transactions.
The BIR chief said that the bureau had
asked the Department of Budget and Management to allot funding for new hires.
“This will not be a one-time process. This
will be a continuing process, since the applicants have to take a series of
examinations including psychological test. Then if they passed, interview will
follow through, and then we will come back to them and inform them whether
there are available positions waiting for them,” she said.
_____________________________________________________________
Self-employed, professionals boost 2011 tax take
Published on 15 August 2012 [ manilatimes.net ]
Written by
THE Bureau of Internal Revenue’s (BIR) program to run after
self-employed and professional tax-evaders has resulted to an increase
in its tax collections in 2011.
According to BIR Commissioner Kim-Jacinto Henares, tax collected from self-employed individuals and professionals in 2011 increased by 37.8 percent to P10.19 billion last year from P7.39 billion in 2010.
“There is still a huge room for growth. Compliance among professionals and the self-employed is still nowhere near where it should be,” she said, adding that the publicized filing against tax evaders was working.
A study by the National Tax Research Center found that salaried Filipinos paid 6 percent of their income as tax on average, as against only 1 percent for self-employed and professionals. Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima recently directed BIR to raise the average tax from self-employed and professionals.
The BIR, which accounts for two-thirds of state revenues, is tasked to raise P1.066 trillion this year to help cap the national government budget deficit at P279 billion.
The BIR is mulling mulls to intensify its program to run after minimal taxpayers by sending more personnel who would pose as clients of self-employed individuals and professionals, and identify those who fail to issue receipts.
As of June this year, the BIR’s Run After Tax Evaders Program resulted to the filing of a total of 111 tax evasion cases worth a combined P39.73 billion since the start of the Aquino administration.
The Department of Justice had resolved 26 of these cases, with 14 filed in court. Another 52 cases had been submitted for resolution in various courts. In the first six months of this year, the bureau raised P521.159 billion, or 14 percent short of its P535.357-billion target for the period.
_______________________________________________________________
Tax laws enforcement vs delinquents to continue — Henares
Written by Ed Velasco
Monday, 30 July 2012 00:00 [ tribune.net.ph ]
Bureau
of Internal Revenue (BIR) Commissioner Kim Jacinto-Henares warned all tax
delinquents the claws of the law will not stop until everybody pays the right
taxes due to government.
Henares
was reacting to news reports the BIR under her helm has become too harsh as
almost all sectors of the society are now taxed.
A
sector that recently started paying a combined seven percent is that of small
mining, particularly gold mining,
composed of 400,000 individuals.
The
collection of two percent excise tax and five percent withholding tax against
gold sellers caused the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’ gold purchase to drop
dramatically.
The
tax also caused the sellers to sell their gold haul to black market where the precious mineral is shipped out of the
country.
“The
policy is for the BIR to be an enforcement agency and not a customer service
agency and make full use of the remedies allowed under the National Internal
Revenue Code to enforce our tax laws and collect the taxes due the government
in a timely manner,” Henares told The Daily Tribune.
She
said law-abiding people need not to worry that BIR is becoming too harsh as the
strict policy is only against those who don’t pay right taxes.
“If
people are following the law and paying their taxes properly, they have nothing
to worry. Only people who do not pay their taxes have to worry. It will be a
gross injustice to those people who pay their taxes properly, especially the
wage earners, if we do not do our job and make sure others do their legal
obligation. I am only doing my job — which is to collect the right taxes,”
Henares said.
Last
year, Henares was also at the center of controversy when the Supreme Court (SC)
ruled that the expanded value added tax (evat) on tolls was constitutional.
The
SC ruling caused furor from millions of travelers using the six expressways in
the country as it increased tolls by 12 percent.
The
decision forced many motorists to pass by provincial roads to avoid paying
exorbitant fees at toll roads.
Under
Henares, the BIR filed a record number of criminal suits against alleged tax
evaders that include celebrities, singers, doctors and even a pawnshop owner.
However,
none among those charged for tax delinquency was sent to jail.
_______________________________________________________________
BIR targets higher estate tax collection
[ manilastandardtoday.com ]
The Bureau of Internal Revenue said it
will check payments made by heirs of deceased property owners in a bid to raise
estate tax collections.
BIR Commissioner Kim Henares said
annual estate tax collection amounted to less than P1 billion, when it was
supposedly “substantially higher.”
Estate tax, as defined by the BIR, is
filed by the heirs when transmitting property to their name upon the death of
the owner. It is not considered a tax on property.
The BIR, under the present tax rates,
requires heirs of deceased persons to pay a tax equivalent to 20 percent of the
value of the estate of the deceased.
The agency said it was intensifying
the campaign to collect estate taxes amid the huge discrepancies between the
number of deaths recorded by the National Statistics Office and the number of
estate tax returns filed.
Data from the NSO showed there were
441,956 deaths in 2007; 464,581 in 2008; and 480,820 in 2009.
The BIR, however, said there were only
29,198 estate tax returns filed in 2007; 29,863 in 2008; and 26,811 in 2009.
Estate tax revenues amounted to only
P649.9 million in 2007; P854.9 million in 2008; and P876.8 million in 2009.
Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima
earlier said the government could actually generate “more than a billion from
estate taxes in a single year,” adding that in some cases, the amount could go
as high as P5 billion for a single family.
The BIR said it would coordinate with
the NSO in monitoring deaths aside from other measures to determine estate tax
delinquency in order to plug tax loopholes.
The agency discovered that some
individuals had attempted to evade payment of corresponding estate tax by
transferring properties with no declaration of death of the owner.
“Once the executor or administrator or
any of the legal heirs failed to pay in six months, apart from the tax there
will be surcharge and interest. And if they did not declare the estate and the
BIR find out, they could be imprisoned,” Henares said.
“It’s like taxi meter. At one point, the heirs might not get
anything as their tax liability is equivalent to the property that they will
inherit,” Henares said.
_________________________________________________________________
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KNOWING YOUR BIR REGULATIONS AND ISSUANCESRevenue Regulations (RRs) are issuances signed by the Secretary of Finance, upon recommendation of the Commissioner of Internal Revenue, that specify, prescribe or define rules and regulations for the effective enforcement of the provisions of the National Internal Revenue Code (NIRC) and related statutes
Revenue Memorandum Orders (RMOs) are issuances that provide directives or instructions; prescribe guidelines; and outline processes, operations, activities, workflows, methods and procedures necessary in the implementation of stated policies, goals, objectives, plans and programs of the Bureau in all areas of operations, except auditing.
Revenue Memorandum Rulings (RMRs) are rulings, opinions and interpretations of the Commissioner of Internal Revenue with respect to the provisions of the Tax Code and other tax laws, as applied to a specific set of facts, with or without established precedents, and which the Commissioner may issue from time to time for the purpose of providing taxpayers guidance on the tax consequences in specific situations. BIR Rulings, therefore, cannot contravene duly issued RMRs; otherwise, the Rulings are null and void ab initio
Revenue Memorandum Circular (RMCs) are issuances that publish pertinent and applicable portions, as well as amplifications, of laws, rules, regulations and precedents issued by the BIR and other agencies/offices.
Revenue Bulletins (RB) refer to periodic issuances, notices and official announcements of the Commissioner of Internal Revenue that consolidate the Bureau of Internal Revenue's position on certain specific issues of law or administration in relation to the provisions of the Tax Code, relevant tax laws and other issuances for the guidance of the public.
BIR Rulings are official position of the Bureau to queries raised by taxpayers and other stakeholders relative to clarification and interpretation of tax laws.
