BIR sets deadline for tax report submission by big firms

MANILA, Philippines - The Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) has given conglomerates only until this month to submit reports of their tax payments.

This is part of a special audit of at least 18 conglomerates, which the BIR started last year.

In an interview, Claro Ortiz, BIR head revenue executive assistant and overall coordinator for the agency’s Run After Tax Evaders Program (RATE), said the deadline for conglomerates to submit reports on their tax payments is end-December.

 “They need to submit the reports by this month,” Ortiz said.

He said the program has been paying off as some conglomerates have already submitted their respective tax payment reports.

The BIR started a special audit of conglomerates because there have been various tax avoidance schemes being practiced by these companies, which may not necessarily be tax evasion.

Among the schemes unearthed by the BIR include the creation of bogus suppliers or companies within the conglomerate that serve as suppliers so that the group can lower its deductible costs.

Conglomerates are groups of related corporations with diversified business activities in different industries that are controlled and operated by a parent corporate entity.

Another BIR official said that an under-declaration of taxable income by at least 30 percent would merit the filing of criminal charges.

For the special audit, the BIR put together a team of revenue officers to undertake simultaneous, joint and coordinated examinations of the books of accounts of these identified taxpayers, covering all internal revenue taxes.