BIR files P162.7-M tax evasion raps vs. telecommunications trader

BIR Regional Director Arnel Guballa

BIR Eastern Pangasinan Chief Atty. Beverly Milo (left) answers queries from the media. Milo supervises 15 towns and Urdaneta City where a tax malefactor was charged by the tax agency's central office. At right is Assistant Regional Director Ernesto de Vota. He just retired from the bureau.

MANILA, May 27 (PNA) -- The Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) on Thursday filed before the Department of Justice (DOJ) tax evasion charges against an Urdaneta City, Pangasinan-based telecommunications trader amounting to P162,710,723.34.
Charged was Danilo Cortez Robles for failure to file Income Tax Returns (ITRs) for years 2007 and 2008, and failure to register as Value Added Tax (VAT) taxpayer.
Robles is engaged in buying and selling handsets, simpacks, eload and prepaid cards under the trade name Robles Merchandising.
In a press conference, BIR Commissioner Kim Jacinto-Henares said that Robles was charged for willful attempt to evade or defeat tax, deliberate failure to file income and VAT returns for taxable years 2007 and 2008, and failure to register as VAT taxpayer in violation of Sections 254, 255 and 275, in relation to Section 236 (G) (1) of the Tax Code.
BIR investigation showed that Robles substantially underdeclared his income and purchases for the first quarter of 2007 and deliberately failed to report altogether the rest of his income for 2007 and his entire income for 2008.
Henares said that based on certifications issued by both Pilipino Telephone Corporation (PTC) and SMART Communications, Inc. (SMART), Robles made purchases from both entities amounting to P332,437,797.87 and P164,149,394.30 for taxable years 2007 and 2008, respectively.
Henares added that as a Filipino citizen deriving income within the Philippines, Robles is subject to income tax and mandated to declare all his income for each taxable year in his tax returns and pay the corresponding taxes due thereon.
BIR records showed that Robles has a “stop-filer” status as he only filed his first quarter ITR for 2007 where he declared a meager income of only P680,000 and failed to file his ITRs for the rest of 2007 and the entire 2008 despite the continuation of his business operations.
Likewise, Robles also did not file his ending inventory lists for the same period.
With his failure to report his purchases from PTC and SMART and to file his ending inventory lists with the BIR, the subject purchases necessarily were all sold and disposed of resulting in undeclared sales of P357,229,527.05 and P176,390,924.46 for 2007 and 2008, respectively.

Robles was assessed to have a tax liability for 2007 and 2008 amounting to P162,710,723.34, including surcharges and interests. (PNA)
DCT/PTR/mec