BIR stands firm on April 15 deadline

MANILA, Philippines - The Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) stood firm with its April 15 deadline for filing income tax returns and did not heed appeals of taxpayers for an extension.

BIR Commissioner Kim Henares made the rounds in different revenue districts in Metro Manila yesterday and said that there were still a lot of people who filed their returns the last minute.

At the same time she said that compared to previous years, a lot of taxpayers started filing their returns in early April following the tax evasion cases the BIR has been filing regularly, with the latest one slapped against former First Son Juan Miguel “Mikey” Arroyo.

“There were a lot of people who filed their returns last week,” Henares noted.

Henares went to the BIR revenue offices in Quezon City, Makati, Manila and Caloocan and noticed that there were still quite a number of taxpayers who beat the deadline.

She said the tax evasion case filed against Arroyo has sent a strong message to other erring taxpayers that the BIR is serious in its efforts against tax evaders.

Last week, the BIR filed before the Department of Justice a P73.85-million tax evasion case against Arroyo and his wife Maria Angela for not paying taxes when his mother, now Congressional Rep. of Pampanga, was still president.

Henares said that Arroyo, congressional representative of Ang Galing Pinoy party-list and his wife failed to file income tax returns from 2004 to 2009.

In particular, Henares said the couple failed to pay the commensurate taxes of the properties they declared in their Statements of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth (SALN) from 2004 to 2009.

Henares said that based on the tax agency’s investigation, the Arroyos owned residential properties in Pampanga, Quezon City and in the United States. Aside from these residential properties, the Arroyo couple also declared in their SALN other assets such as motor vehicles, jewelry, clothes and shares of stock.

The BIR’s investigation also revealed that the Arroyo couple underdeclared their incomes by roughly 30 percent for taxable years 2004, 2006 and 2007.

Arroyo, for his part, has dubbed the filing of the tax evasion case against them as harassment by the current administration but Henares said the BIR was not singling out anybody.