Office supplies trader faces tax evasion raps

MANILA, Philippines  - The Bureau of Internal Revenue filed on Thursday criminal charges against a trader of office supplies for tax evasion and other violations of the tax code.

BIR filed the complaint against Kristian Soriano at the Department of Justice "for willful attempt to evade or defeat tax, deliberate failure to supply correct and accurate information in his Income Tax Return (ITR) and Value Added Tax (VAT) Returns for taxable year 2010 and Perjury, in violation of Sections 254, 255 and Section 267 of the National Internal Revenue Code of 1997."

Soriano is the sole proprietor of Natriks Enterprise, which trades office supplies. Charged with Soriano is his certified public accountant Crisanto Laguardia, Jr. who certified his financial statements in 2010.

Soriano reportedly under-declared his firm's 2010 sales by P125.16 million or 13,381 percent, after being paid by the Philippine National Police a total of P133.66 million in a transaction made in 2010. Soriano, however, declared only P935,382.77 in his income tax return during the same year.

"Under Section 248 (B) of the Tax Code, an under-declaration of taxable income by more than 30 percent is considered substantial underdeclaration and constitutes a prima facie case of fraud tantamount to tax evasion," the tax bureau said.

BIR added that Soriano was sued for a total tax liability amounting to P101.9 million for deficiency taxes in 2010. Laguardia, meanwhile, was charged for issuing unqualified opinion in his certification of Soriano's 2010 financial statements.

The case against Soriano and Laguardia was the 160th under the BIR's Run After Tax Evaders program.