BIR Fines SM-Dagupan's Stalls for "Failure to Register"

                       OPERATOR SAYS SM PRESSURED THEM TO OPEN

By Mortz C. Ortigoza

DAGUPAN CITY -  SM Center Dagupan pressured each of its stall owners to simultaneously open last October 4 this year that resulted to many of them to be fined P20,000 each by the Bureau of Internal Revenue because they fail to register.

According Assistant Revenue District Office  (RDO) No. 4 Chief Aldrin A. Camba a group of BIR personnel based in Calasiao, Pangasinan led by their supervisor Cherry Wong combed the two-floor newly opened SM Center Dagupan here after a report that a milk tea stall there did not issue an official receipt to their customers.
A source cited that it has more than 70 stalls and kiosks there.

SM Center Dagupan 

“Hinde nila inexpect na mag oopen kaagad.  Ang alam nila parang matagal pa. So sila iyong mga business establishments relax muna sila. Nagpu process lang pero hinde pa iyong talaga full processing. E biglang sinabi ng SM mag oopen na tayo ganitong date. Kung hinde kayo makikiano kayo sa amin sa opening mape-penalty kayo,” he quoted one of the operators there who came to his office to explain his infraction.

The threat from SM could not be a reason for the unregistered stall owners to cave in because they violated the tax law of the country, Camba explained to this writer.

Commercial stalls at SM Center Dagupan.

“Unregistered na nga ang business establishment. Ang sabi pino process ang registration. The mere fact na iyong regulation before you start your business dapat kumpleto kana registered ka sa BIR dapat with registered or invoices. So iyon ang importante sinabi doon”.

Camba said he would refer to RDO Chief Ernesto I. Mangabat if he can divulge to the media the names of those countless owners that committed the breach.

The tax mapping led by Wong ensued two weeks ago after a lawyer, who asked for anonymity, reported to this newspaper that an attendant of a milk tea store did not issue an O.R because the stall did not have it yet.
The lawyer said he reported this incident to two BIR officials but they did not inform Camba and Mangabat.

“As a lawyer a business could not open without an official receipt,” he said.

Camba said it was illegal for each of the stalls to issue an O.R registered in Metro Manila like Marikina after another reader of this newspaper reported the infringement of one of the stores there.

“Hinde puwede iyon kasi very specific sa address doon sa recibo natin kung saan lang naka address doon lang natin gagamitin iyon”.

Camba said the tax agency was just doing its job as mandated by law.

The National Internal Revenue Code says that  “Any person who, being required under Section 237 to issue receipts or sales or commercial invoices, fails or refuses to issue such receipts of invoices, issues receipts or invoices that do not truly reflect and/or contain all the information required to be shown therein, or uses multiple or double receipts or invoices, shall, upon conviction for each act or omission, be punished by a fine of not less than One thousand pesos (P1,000) but not more than Fifty thousand pesos (P50,000) and suffer imprisonment of not less than two (2) years but not more than four (4) years”.

This newspaper and other media outlets are watching how the BIR will deal legally with SM Center Dagupan and those violator stall and kiosk owners other than fining them with P20,000.000.

During the opening of SM Center Dagupan, media men were told by a staff of Music Land that they did not operate because they don't have official receipts from the BIR. Now, that's what you called "Law Abiding Citizen" whose owner knows the
consequences of his failure to issue receipts or invoices from the tax agency.

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Report corruption at BIR, I will act on it – Dulay