BIR files tax evasion raps vs 4 gold traders

The Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) on Thursday filed separate tax evasion cases against four gold traders transacting with the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) for their alleged failure to declare their earnings with the agency. The tax evasion charges against Felonila Caluag, Diomedita Canonigo, Sylvia Cantoria and Ronald Castro were filed before the Department of Justice (DOJ) on Thursday. “They did not report any income at all during the specified periods. They did not file their income tax returns, but we have evidence to prove that they earned in those years," BIR Commissioner Kim Jacinto-Henares said at a press briefing. Henares said the BIR used BSP transaction sheets and evidence of payment to build the cases against the four. Canonigo was slapped with P1.65-billion tax evasion case for allegedly failing to declare earnings and pay appropriate income taxes from 2005 to 2009 for selling gold to the BSP amounting to P2.55 billion. Castro, meanwhile, was charged after the BIR found out that he has a deficiency in income taxes amounting to P1.56 billion from 2005 to 2009, also from transactions with the BSP. Caluag allegedly attempted to evade paying taxes worth P865 million from 2005 to 2009 for sales of refined gold from the BSP amounting to P1.27 billion, while Cantoria supposedly did not pay P683 million in taxes from 2006 to 2008. The cases filed against the gold traders raised the number of alleged tax evaders charged under the BIR’s Run After Tax Evaders (RATE) program to 42. Earlier this month, the BIR also filed a P73.85-million tax evasion complaint against Ang Galing Pinoy party-list Rep. Juan Miguel “Mikey" Arroyo and his wife, Angela, for failing to declare income in 2005, 2008 and 2009. Rep. Arroyo has decried the BIR’s supposed haste in filing a tax evasion complaint against him without according him due process. - KBK, GMA News