BIR charges CPA, rice importer with tax evasion

A rice importer and a certified public accountant on Thursday were charged with tax evasion amounting to P142.85 million, said the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR). Gerardo Teves, a rice importer who owns Manila-based GT Trading’s Rice Importation, was found to have brought in 16 shipments of rice from May to July 2009 with values ranging from P310,768.01 to P26.7 million In the BIR complaint filed before the Department of Justice, BIR Commissioner Kim Henares said that National Food Authority (NFA) documents showed GT Trading’s importations from the May to July 2009 totaled P98.99 million. However, Teves only declared P97,102.50 as GT Trading's shipments during the period, the BIR said. Teves also declared having no inventory at the end of the year, suggesting that all the imported rice was sold. Based on NFA import data, Teves misdeclared his sales by P310.26 million, the BIR said. It noted that Teves’ total tax liability totaled P136.07 million — including interest and surcharges — equivalent to P129.95 million from income tax and P6.12 million from value added tax. The bureau also charged certified public accountant Emilino Maestro with P6.78 million in tax deficiencies including surcharge and interest. His income tax deficiency was P5.17 million and his value added tax deficiency was P1.61 million, the BIR said. Maestro in 2007 filed a tentative annual income tax return with no entries despite having filed quarterly value added tax returns for the four quarters of the same year, with output taxes totaling P669,672.72, the bureau claimed. The BIR said “… it is clear that the said blank return is a false return with the intent to evade taxes." — BC/VS, GMA News