DOF eyes scheme to monitor cases filed under RATE

The Department of Finance (DOF) is proposing to put up a monitoring system on cases filed under the RATE (Run After Tax Evaders) program.

Finance Secretary Margarito Teves said yesterday the system may include the number of cases filed, the date they were filed, the nature of the case and the lawyers handling the case.

Teves said the monitoring mechanism, which can be made available every quarter, may help in providing greater transparency with regard to the process of hearing the cases under the RATE program.

The finance chief met yesterday with the Department of Justice (DOJ) to discuss appropriate ways to undertake the RATE program, which was launched in March this year.

"The purpose of the meeting is to determine whether the other parties agree to the suggested changes in the process of hearing these cases if there would be any," Teves said.

Admitting that the DOF does not have a direct control on the hearings of the said tax cases, Finance Undersecretary Emmanuel Bonoan said "it is better for the DOF and DOJ to iron out things now at the early stage before the cases reach the courts."

"We want to keep communication lines open especially on areas of improvement," Bonoan added.

Earlier, the joint BIR and the DOJ filed tax evasion cases against a family-owned manufacturer of canned sardines with tax liabilities estimated at P67.6 million on unreported purchases and under-declared sales in 1999.

Meanwhile, the BIR, under the RATE program, filed another complaint for tax evasion against Austrian national Helmuth S. Zotter a.k.a. Helmuth S. Zotter Da Lavant.

Zotter is facing charges of attempting to evade tax and failing to file the return, supply correct and accurate information and pay tax amounting to P7.99 million for taxable years 1997 to 2000 .

According to the BIR, Zotter owed the tax agency a total of P7.99 million.

BIR said Zotter is a noted international restorer of artworks and valuable paintings catering to the elite bracket of the society and privately-operated/owned museums who earned professional fees running into millions of pesos but has consistently evaded paying the correct taxes to the government by not filing his required tax returns.