BIR takes PMA president Olarte to court in P2.93-M tax evasion rap

The Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) on Thursday sued the president of Philippine Medical Association for not paying P2.93 million in taxes after he challenged the bureau to investigate and file cases against specific doctors instead of making general accusations in a shame campaign.

In a complaint before the Department of Justice, the BIR noted PMA president Leo Olarte, a doctor and a lawyer by profession failed to pay his income and value-added taxes. The bureau said he also did not file corresponding tax returns from 2006 to 2012.

These were in violation of Section 254 and 255 of the amended National Internal Revenue Code of 1997, the BIR said.

The BIR discovered that Olarte adopted the scheme of "end-dating" his records with the Integrated Tax System of the BIR to hide the fact that he wasn't filing his income tax returns and wasn't actually paying his income tax.

This prevented the BIR computer system from generating open cases against the tax evader, the bureau said.

BIR chief Kim Henares told reporters Olarte could not have hidden his crime under the end-dating scheme without the help of someone from the bureau. She vowed to investigate and sue whoever it was that aided Olarte.

"Kung wala naman hong mag-a-ano sa mga tao sa BIR, hindi naman ho gagawin ng mga scalawag sa BIR iyan. It takes two to tango. Just because it was done, and though illegal, does not exculpate one person and not the other person. Pareho silang guilty," Henares said.

She said the bureau merely gave in to the challenge hurled by Olarte when he denounced the BIR shame campaign as "unfair" and called for the bureau to investigate and file cases against specific doctors and not generalize the medical profession as a bunch of tax evaders.

"I think you can review all his press statements and he said that. Rather than mangdamay pa siya ng ibang tao, eh 'di tingnan muna lang natin 'yung nagsasalita. So iyon ang request niya. So 'yun naman ang pinagbigyan namin," Henares said.

The bureau found out Olarte earned P569,825.88 in 2006, P221,206.22 in 2007, P226,186.90 in 2008, P774,940.59 in 2009, P715,515.62 in 2010, P992,298.84 in 2011, and P1,191,576.01 in 2012.

His income was based on an alphalist submitted to the BIR by Olarte's whitholding agents, including Far Eastern University where he teaches medicine and University of the East where he teaches law.

The BIR assessed Olarte's tax deficiency at P2.93 million, including surcharges and interests. – VS, GMA News