BIR sues contractor of Malampaya funded projects for tax evasion

(Updated 7:26 p.m.) The Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) on Thursday filed a tax evasion case against one of the contractors of the Malampaya Fund Infrastructure projects for underdeclaring her income and failing to pay P181.31 million in taxes in 2008.

 

The bureau said Bella C. Tiotangco of BCT Trading and Construction willfully attempted to evade taxes by declaring an income of P167.77 million in her 2008 income tax return (ITR) despite having  gross revenues of P401.48 million for that year.

 

Documents Tiotangco attached to her ITR showed she received only P8.58 million from the Department of Transportation and Communication (DOTC), P9.59 million from the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH)-Palawan Third Engineering District and  P17.73 million from the Philippine Ports Authority (PPA) for 2008, the bureau noted in a statement.

 

An investigation by the BIR, however, revealed that BCT Trading also received income payments amounting to P330.36 million from the provincial government of Palawan in 2008 and P52.95 million as payment for the completion of infrastructure projects in El Nido, Palawan the same year.

 

A contractor and retailer of hardware materials, BCT Trading was tapped by the provincial government of Palawan to build several infrastructure projects funded by money from the Malampaya Deepwater Gas-to-Power project during taxable year 2008.

 

Aside from underdeclaring her income by P233.71 million, BIR said Tiotangco also underdeclared her value added tax declaration for the second, third and fourth quarters of 2008 by P71.55 million, P123.66 million, and P123.11 million, respectively.

 

Tiotangco's aggregate tax liability of P277.21 million, inclusive of surcharges and interests, consisted of P181.31 million in income tax and P95.90 million in value added tax, according to the bureau. – Xian Arcangel/VS, GMA News