BIR to taxpayers: Use only accredited professionals when filing taxes

Those filing their income tax returns must make sure that the accountants and auditors they use are accredited by the Bureau of Internal Revenue, the agency said over the weekend. “The BIR has discovered instances when the tax practitioners hired did not pay the taxes and the taxpayer had to shell out the money to pay for the taxes twice,” said BIR commissioner Kim Henares. “Taxpayers have to be very careful with the tax practitioners they hire and they also have to make sure that they are aboveboard. They have to remember the ‘willful blindness’ doctrine that does not let a taxpayer off the hook for misdeeds done by their accountants,” she also said. The BIR filed separate charges against accountant Vergilio Diaz of Bulacan and Caloocan City in February, and against bookkeeper Annalyn Forbes of Bulacan earlier this month. Both were charged with issuing fake receipts and making it appear that they had paid their clients' taxes but had instead kept the money for themselves. In both instances, the duped clients had to pay the unpaid taxes to the BIR again. — BM, GMA News