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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