Gov’t on track to meeting revenue targets – Purisima

 Economy
Jun 052013
 
Gov’t on track to meeting revenue targets – Purisima

MANILA, Philippines – Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima said yesterday the country remains on track to meeting its revenue collection targets following a strong economic growth in the first quarter. Bucking a worldwide economic slowdown, the Philippine economy expanded by 7.8 percent in the first quarter of the year – the fastest pace since 2010 – mainly driven by growth in the construction and manufacturing industries. It outpaced Asian powerhouse China, where the economy surprisingly grew by only 7.7 percent. “We are still on track to meet our goals for the tax effort and revenue effort, especially given our high first-quarter growth. We note that in the past, tax effort has gotten a significant boost from the first quarter of the year to the second, and we anticipate the same given our very successful tax collections in April this year,” Purisima said. Tax effort is an index measure of how well a country is doing in terms of tax collection relative to what could be reasonably expected given its economic potential. The Bureau of Internal Revenue, the government’s main tax collection agency, posted collections amounting to 9.2 percent of GDP while the Bureau of Customs’ collections stood (BIR), at 2.6 percent of GDP. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 The Bureau of Treasury, meanwhile, recorded collections of 0.9 percent of GDP while other offices collected 0.1 percent of GDP. The government aims to increase the country’s tax effort to 16 percent by the end of Pres. Aquino’s term Read More …

Myanmar has a brand new airport

 Economy
Apr 182013
 
Myanmar has a brand new airport

Go ahead and cry and turn green with envy. And be mad as hell in frustration too. Myanmar, a country that was stuck in the past has been making fast and bold leaps into the future. And they started doing that while our leaders were busy playing politics or otherwise doing nothing more productive than shuffling papers and restudying long completed project studies. A friend of mine from the old UP days just came from Myanmar, as part of a JICA team to help Myanmar formulate its national transport plan. Guess what? According to him, Myanmar “has built a new international airport in three years time, with a spanking new terminal building that puts our T3 to shame.” Good Grief! In the three years this administration was busy restudying plans and getting DOTC lawyers to pretend they were engineers, Myanmar got going and has inaugurated a brand new airport they can’t even fully utilize. The new airport “was designed by Changi airport with a capacity to handle five million passengers per annum. Current traffic is only 40,000 passengers per year.” According to my friend, a transport expert working on projects in Asean, “had Myanmar applied cost-benefit analysis, phasing and staging would have resulted in a more modest airport. But there it is, standing on a new capital that is 3x the size of MetroManila.” I hope Mar and his gang of lawyers won’t say Myanmar succeeded in opening a brand new airport larger and better than our Terminal 3 because Read More …

BIR: Kris Aquino, Smart top taxpayers

 Economy
Apr 152013
 
BIR: Kris Aquino, Smart top taxpayers

In this file photo, talk show host and multiple product endorser Kris Aquino gives away prizes to prizes to a contestant in her show Kris TV aired over ABS-CBN network. MANILA, Philippines – President Benigno Aquino III’s celebrity sister, Kris Aquino, is the country’s top taxpayer, based on the list of the top 500 individual taxpayers released by the Bureau of Internal Revenue on Monday. According to the BIR report, the “Queen of All Media” paid a total of P49,871,657.37 during the taxable year 2011. Tesla Motors executive Gregory Reichow followed Aquino as the second biggest taxpayer, having paid over P38.1 million, while senior diplomat and former Ambassador Lauro Baja Jr. landed in third place with the payment of over P34.2 million taxes. Broadband and mobile group Smart Communications, Inc., meanwhile, was the top among corporate taxpayers charged with P10.2 billion by the government. The Manila Electric Company (Meralco) paid P8.3 billion in taxes while oil giant Shell Philippine Exploration retained its 2010 third-place ranking with P6.26 billion worth of taxes. Top 10 taxpayers: Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 Kris Aquino (media) – P49,871,657.37 Gregory Reichow (Tesla Motors executive) – P38,196,685.00 Lauro Baja, Jr. (senior diplomat) – P34,257,368.88 Manuel V. Pangilinan (mining and telecommunications businessman) – P25,992,131.86 Aurelio Montinola III (Bank of the Philippine Islands president) – P24,472,645.10 Gerardo Ablaza, Jr. (Manila Water, Co. chief) – P22,645,262.00 Philippe Jones Lhuillier (Cebuana Lhuillier pawnshop chain chief) – P21,645,000.00 Victor Manguerra Angeles – P21,202,815.34 Roberto Panlilio (Investment banking Read More …

Intensified tax drive pits BIR vs. doctors

 News
Apr 042013
 
Intensified tax drive pits BIR vs. doctors

As an obstetrician in a local hospital in Pangasinan who would sometimes conduct free checkups on pregnant women, Dr. Amelie (not her real name) is not in favor of the government’s policy requiring doctors to issue receipts. “Hindi lahat ng patients ko nakakapagbayad ng consultations,” she told GMA News Online by phone. “So paano maa-assign ‘yun ng bayad sa gobyerno?” She added she issues receipt only when the patient asks for it. “Minsan nagbibigay ako pag humihingi sila ng resibo. Pero pag hindi sila humihingi, hindi na ako nagbibigay.” The Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) is requiring doctors to issue receipts during consultations as part of government efforts to ensure that professionals pay their respective professional income tax. Well-paying profession Since doctors are known to be a well-paying profession where official receipts are not given to patients, taxes are assumed to be vastly underpaid. According to the Philippine Medical Association (PMA), a doctor’s professional income tax could be as much as P200,000 every year. Nelson Aspe, deputy commissioner for operations of the BIR, said they decided to go after doctors after they noticed that doctors have the lowest income tax filed among other professionals. “Nung nire-evaluate namin ang mga tax filers, sila (doctors) ang mga pinakamababa,” he said without mentioning figures, citing confidentiality. Aspe insisted that issuing receipts is “obligatory” even among businesses and professionals. “The basic statement is that anybody earning… magi-issue ng receipts in their services or sales of goods,” he said. “[But] over the years, mababa ang Read More …

Office supplies trader faces tax evasion raps

 Economy
Apr 042013
 
Office supplies trader faces tax evasion raps

MANILA, Philippines  – The Bureau of Internal Revenue filed on Thursday criminal charges against a trader of office supplies for tax evasion and other violations of the tax code. BIR filed the complaint against Kristian Soriano at the Department of Justice “for willful attempt to evade or defeat tax, deliberate failure to supply correct and accurate information in his Income Tax Return (ITR) and Value Added Tax (VAT) Returns for taxable year 2010 and Perjury, in violation of Sections 254, 255 and Section 267 of the National Internal Revenue Code of 1997.” Soriano is the sole proprietor of Natriks Enterprise, which trades office supplies. Charged with Soriano is his certified public accountant Crisanto Laguardia, Jr. who certified his financial statements in 2010. Soriano reportedly under-declared his firm’s 2010 sales by P125.16 million or 13,381 percent, after being paid by the Philippine National Police a total of P133.66 million in a transaction made in 2010. Soriano, however, declared only P935,382.77 in his income tax return during the same year. “Under Section 248 (B) of the Tax Code, an under-declaration of taxable income by more than 30 percent is considered substantial underdeclaration and constitutes a prima facie case of fraud tantamount to tax evasion,” the tax bureau said. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 BIR added that Soriano was sued for a total tax liability amounting to P101.9 million for deficiency taxes in 2010. Laguardia, meanwhile, was charged for issuing unqualified opinion in his certification of Soriano’s 2010 financial Read More …

BIR to taxpayers: Use only accredited professionals when filing taxes

 Entertainment
Apr 012013
 

MANILA, Mar 31 (Mabuhay) – Those filing their income tax returns must make sure that the accountants and auditors they use are accredited by the Bureau of Internal Revenue, the agency said over the weekend. “The BIR has discovered instances when the tax practitioners hired did not pay the taxes and the taxpayer had to […]

Tax evasion raps filed vs trading firm, model agency

 Entertainment
Mar 032013
 
Tax evasion raps filed vs trading firm, model agency

(Bureau of Internal Revenue Logo) MANILA, Feb 28 (Mabuhay) — The Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) charged a Laguna-based trading company with willful failure to pay due taxes amounting to P4.49 million. Charged before the Dept. of Justice (DOJ) was Jera Marketing, Inc. (JMI) and its president, Ester R. Almendrala, for alleged violations of Sec. 255 in relation to Sec. 253 of the National Internal Revenue Code. BIR Commissioner Kim Henares bared that JMI was issued a Letter of Authority (LOA) for the examination of its books of accounts and other accounting records for taxable year 2006. However, JMI reportedly failed to submit these documents. The BIR then issued a subpoena duces tecum, Preliminary Assessment Notice, and a Formal Letter of Demand pointing out the firm’s tax liabilities but, again, JMI allegedly failed to settle the same. The case against JMI is the 152nd filed by the bureau under its Run After Tax Evaders (RATE) program under the Aquino administration. Meanwhile, a separate complaint was filed by the BIR against the owner of a casting firm for a total tax liability amounting to P6.61 million. Angelica Bonnevie Mara was charged for “willful failure to evade or defeat tax and for deliberate failure to supply correct and accurate information in her income tax return (ITR) for taxable year 2009.” Mara owns Model Shop Casting Studio with business address in Makati City. BIR Commissioner Kim Henares said a preliminary investigation was conducted on Mara’s alleged tax evasion scheme. In the course of Read More …

Trading company charged with tax evasion

 Economy
Feb 282013
 
Trading company charged with tax evasion

MANILA, Philippines – The Bureau of Internal Revenue filed on Thursday a criminal complaint against a trading company for tax evasion. Jera Marketing, Inc. (JMI) and its President Ester Almendrala were charged before the Department of Justice for violating the National Revenue Code of 1997 as defined and penalized under Section 255 and in relation to Section 253. JMI is a local corporation involved in trading goods. It is registered with the BIR and is based in San Pedro, Laguna. The state agency said the firm failed to submit its books of accounts and other accounting records for all internal revenue taxes covering taxable year 2006. JMI was earlier issued a letter of authority for BIR to examine its documents. A subpoena duces tecum, a preliminary collection letter, a final notice before seizure and a warrant of distraint and/or levy were also issued to the company to settle its tax obligations. “However, despite such repeated demands and the lapse of a considerable length of time, JMI has obstinately failed and adamantly refused to pay, through its responsible corporate officer, the aforementioned deficiency taxes, to the prejudice of government,” BIR said. The criminal case filed against JMI is the 152nd filed under the bureau’s Run After Tax Evaders program.

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