BIR files tax evasion charges vs 2 firms

The Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) has filed charges against Philippine Telephone & Telegraph Corp. (PT&T) and a garments company for tax evasion and estafa totalling over P500 million.

Cracking down on tax evaders, the BIR filed its complaint against PT&T and named as respondents company president, chairman and chief operating officer Jose Luis Melo Santiago, among others.

Internal Revenue Commissioner Guillermo Parayno said PT&T was cited for non-remittance of taxes withheld.

"For several years, PT&T did not remit payment of withholding taxes," Parayno said. "We discovered this through our electronic filing and payment system."

Parayno said that after being informed of its liability, PT&T filed its returns through BIR’s Integrated Tax System but failed to pay the corresponding taxes of more than P560 million.

"These consist of unpaid withholding taxes, value added tax, percentage taxes and income taxes," Parayno said.

The BIR also filed a complaint against garments manufacturer Excellance Weaving Mills Inc., listing two Taiwanese nationals and their three Filipino partners as respondents, namely: Wu Wen Ping, Wu Wen Piao, Lucila Ventura, Joselito Sandoval and Nestro Cuevas.

Parayno said Excellance Weaving was cited for failure to supply the correct information in its returns for taxable years 2000 and 2001 and for not declaring its true income.

"The company was also cited for not paying its tax obligations despite notices from the BIR," Parayno said.

The BIR and the Department of Finance (DOF) have also started offering rewards of up to P1 million for information that would lead to the recovery of uncollected taxes and prosecution of tax evaders.

Earlier, the government filed tax evasion charges against basketball star Paul Asi Taulava and former Armed Forces of the Philippines comptroller Maj. Gen. Carlos Garcia and his wife Clarita for alleged tax evasion.