Talent manager denies evading tax payments

Talent manager Douglas Quijano denied yesterday that he evaded paying taxes when Harte Beest Entertainment Corp., a company created by one of his talents, failed to declare income for years 2000 and 2001 and for non-filing of income tax returns for years 2002 and 2003.

In a three-page counter-affidavit he personally submitted to the office of State Prosecutor Mederlyn Mangalindan, Quijano said that as a talent manager of actor Richard Gomez in 1999, he was named nominal president of Harte Beest "without any election conducted and as board director without any confirmation."

"I was never involved in the bookkeeping and accounting side of the business and had no hand in running the administrative aspect of Harte Beest. Most especially, I do not supervise the tax matters of the company. Not being an elected president of Harte Beest, I have no authority in dealing with the financial affairs of the company," he said.

Quijano said that he was the manager of Gomez in 1999, when the latter divested his interest in Harte Beest and named him president without any election conducted.

In a complaint filed last May 5 before the Department of Justice (DOJ), Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) Commissioner Guillermo Parayno said Quijano failed to declare the income and tax returns of Harte Beest.

Parayno said a certification obtained by the BIR from the ABS-CBN showed that the Harte Beest received multimillion payments, representing Gomez’s talent fees from year 2000 to 2003.

He said that in the same year, Gomez allegedly failed to file any income tax returns based on BIR’s Integrated Tax System (ITS) and Taxpayer Accounting System (TAS).

In his counter-affidavit, Quijano said that as a non-elected president of the company, he has "no authority in dealing with financial affairs of the company."

"I am not consulted on tax matters of the company. I am not aware of the non-filing of the income tax returns for 2002 and 2003. I have no knowledge of the late filing of the income tax returns on 2000, 2001 and 2003. I never supervised income matters," Quijano said.

He said he had been advised that the payment of movie, television, promotional and advertising producers to Harte Beest is subject to withholding taxes and, thus covers everything necessary for the payment of taxes."The BIR should be aware of the fact that taxes were withheld for the company’s income. This could be easily verified from their own records. The charges are defective," Quijano said.