Bulacan gold trader charged with P804-M tax evasion

The Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) on Thursday charged another gold trader with tax evasion amounting to over P804 million before the Department of Justice (DOJ). Bulacan-based gold trader Virgilio Ipapo Ocampo was charged with “four counts of attempt to evade or defeat tax, 12 counts of failure to file quarterly income tax returns (ITR), and four counts of failure to file annual ITRs." Ocampo’s tax evasion case is the 79th filed under the BIR’s Run After Tax Evaders (RATE) program under the administration of President Benigno Aquino III. BIR Commissioner Kim Henares said Ocampo’s total tax liability amounts to P804.42 million, including surcharges and interests, for allegedly failing to pay his quarterly and annual ITRs from 2005 to 2008. BIR data showed the gold trader’s tax liability in 2005 amounted to P101.64 million, P218.23 million in 2006, P244.72 million in 2007, and P239.83 million in 2008. BIR investigation revealed that from 2005 to 2008, Ocampo — through his duly-appointed agents — sold refined gold to the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas amounting to P1.121 billion. The bureau got hold of Letters of Delivery and Sale detailing the number of pieces and the weight of the gold sold by Ocampo. — MRT/VS, GMA News