BIR wants GOCCs, GFIs to pay taxes

The Bureau of Internal Revenue wants government-owned or -controlled corporations and government financial institutions to pay their taxes religiously. BIR chief Kim Henares said Thursday the agency started sending out letters to several GOCCs and GFIs asking for their tax payments. "As we are all in government, if they ask us [for an extension], we can be more accommodative," she added. Henares said that the BIR needs to pursue the P2.36-billion tax liability of the BSP from its gold buying activities from small-scale miners. "According to our tax laws, the excise tax follows the goods. Since the BSP has the gold, it has to pay the tax," Henares said. The BIR assessed the BSP with a P4.6-billion tax liability in connection with gold purchases from small-scale farmers from 2001 up to 2006. The BSP claimed exemption under an administrative order of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, recognizing its exempt status, which the BIR denied in April 2008. The BIR insisted the National Internal Revenue Code, which mandates everyone — the BSP included — to pay a two-percent excise tax on gold purchases as laid out under the People's Small Scale Mining Act of 1991. —VS, GMANews.TV