BIR files 55 cases vs doctor for non-issuance of receipts

MANILA, Philippines - The Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) yesterday filed a criminal complaint with the Department of Justice (DOJ) against Dr. Ma. Leonora del Rosario Capellan for 55 counts of failure to issue receipts under Section 264 of the National Internal Revenue Code of 1997, as amended.

Capellan is a licensed medical doctor at the Makati Medical Center. She is a diplomate of the Philippine Society of Endocrinology and Metabolism as well as diplomate and fellow of the Philippine College of Physicians.

Pursuant to a mission order signed by Commissioner Kim Henares, the BIR placed the Makati Medical Center business premises of Capellan under surveillance. For the purpose of verifying compliance with the regulations on issuance of official receipts, a poseur-patient was utilized and availed of the medical services of the subject doctor.

The poseur-patient told investigators she was not issued a receipt. She was issued thereafter but only after the same was demanded from the doctor’s secretary by the BIR investigators themselves. An appointments book and a booklet of official receipts were confiscated in the course of the implementation of the mission order.

A comparison of the said two documents by the BIR revealed that for the period covering September 2011 to Oct. 5, 2011, Capellan failed to issue receipts to 55 of her patients.

The case against Capellan is the 75th filed under the Run After Tax Evaders (RATE) program of the BIR under the leadership of Henares. It is likewise the fourth RATE case of Revenue Region No. 8, Makati City.

Meanwhile, the BIR also filed yesterday before the DOJthree tax evasion cases against a garments importer, another medical professional and a contractor of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH).

Henares led the agency’s filing yesterday against Abante Industries Inc., a garments manufacturer, and its auditor, Nelia Yulo Pasco.

According to the agency, Abante, a Bulacan-based company that manufactures knitted fabrics, under-declared its sales from 2004 to 2007.

The agency said the company owes the BIR a deficiency tax of P1.28 billion from 2004 to 2007 inclusive of surcharges and interests. Of the amount, the company owes the government P958.33 million in income tax and P320 million in value added tax (VAT).

The agency also charged Pasco, Abante’s auditor, for making false entries, records, and using falsified documents.

The BIR also filed a P26.41-million tax evasion case against Norberto Elisterio Fedelicio, an engineer who has contracts with the DPWH in Antique province.

Citing documents from the DPWH and the Department of Education, the BIR said Fedelicio received payments totaling P75.16 million in 2009 and 2010.

However, he declared an income of only P22.97 million for the two-year period.

The agency also filed a case against Robina Manianglung, a dentist who has an office in Timog Ave. and who has also not been issuing receipts to clients.

Manianglung also failed to pay the required registration fee to the BIR for the year.