Dentist to stars, ADB employees slapped with tax raps
Steve Mark G. Gan. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines — The Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) announced on Thursday it has filed tax evasion cases against a prominent dentist in showbiz circles, two entrepreneurs doing business in the city of Manila, and six more employees of the Asian Development Bank (ADB).
In a statement, the BIR said a criminal complaint has been filed before the Department of Justice (DOJ) against Steve Mark G. Gan, a popular dentist to showbiz figures. He has offices and clinics in the cities of Makati and Manila.
According to the BIR, Gan incurred tax payment deficiencies during the taxable years 2009 until 2011. He allegedly “substantially” under-declared his taxable income by 283.13 percent during those three years, and also did not file value-added tax (VAT) returns. According to the BIR, the Tax Code declares that underdeclaration of taxable income by over 30 percent constitutes fraud.
Gan allegedly accumulated a total liability of P36.49 million—P10.27 million in 2009, P20.47 million in 2010 and P5.75 million in 2011—in unpaid income taxes and VAT.
The BIR disclosed it earlier received “confidential information denouncing the dentist for tax evasion.”
Separately, the BIR also filed tax evasion cases against two businesswomen: Boots C. Yamzon, who runs a retail shop in Sta. Mesa, Manila; and Luisa Gocheco Chuahiong, who operates wholesalers El Mart Fashion Center as well as El’A Commercial in Sta. Cruz, Manila.
The BIR said Yamzon was assessed to have a tax payment deficiency worth P10.5 million in 2008, while Chuahiong’s liability totalled P14.32 million in the same year.
The BIR said both businesswomen “ignored” notices informing them of their unpaid taxes. “The respondents’ obstinate failure and continued refusal to pay their long overdue deficiency tax assessments, despite repeated demands, constitute willful failure to pay the taxes due to the government,” the agency said.
Also slapped tax evasion charges were six more Filipinos working for the Manila-based multilateral lender ADB. They allegedly did not pay their proper taxes for their earnings in 2013.
The ADB employees were identified as follows: Marian G. Arellano, Eileen Purita Q. Battung, Elbert E. Bueno, Helen Y. Carnecer, Anna S. Cervantes, and Mary Anne A. Chaneco.
Their deficiencies for taxable year 2013 were: P0.79 million for Arellano, P0.46 million for Battung, P0.42 million for Bueno, P0.46 million for Carnecer, P0.59 million for Cervantes, and P0.36 million for Chaneco.
“The agreement between ADB and the government of the Republic of the Philippines states that only officers and staff of the ADB who are not Philippine nationals shall be exempt from Philippine income tax. Thus, [the six] respondents… being ordinary employees of ADB and Philippine nationals, are subject to income tax. However, they all refused to pay any income tax due on their respective ITRs [income tax returns],” the BIR said.
The agency pointed out that it had put up a one-stop kiosk at the lobby of the ADB headquarters wherein Filipino personnel could transact business and accommodate registration, transfer of registration and updating of records, filing of ITRs and payment of taxes. The BIR had also extended by two months the deadline for payment of taxes by local ADB personnel.
These nine additional cases brought to 301 the number of tax evasion cases filed under the Run After Tax Evaders (RATE) program being spearheaded by BIR Commissioner Kim S. Jacinto-Henares.
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