The Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) yesterday filed tax evasion charges worth P73.91 million at the Department of Justice (DoJ) against Toshiba Plant Systems and Services Corp. and a concessionaire of the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (Pagcor), Lilia de los Reyes Gonzales.
The BIR also filed criminal charges against Toshiba for willful failure to pay taxes under Section 255 of the National Internal Revenue Code (NIRC) and its responsible officers, namely, its general manager, Akio Sugawara, and its resident agent, Rodolfo Bausa, under Section 253 of the NIRC.
The BIR is seeking the payment of P58.11 million in deficiency taxes with increments from Toshiba for taxable year 2007 for which it has issued it several assessment notices until it became final and executory.
The BIR garnished Toshiba’s accounts in five local banks (Banco de Oro, the Bank of Philippine Islands, China Banking Corp., Metropolitan Banking Corp. and United Coconut Planters Bank to collect on the taxes) but was able to collect only P136,364.47 from BPI as the other banks claimed  the manufacturing firm had no existing accounts with them.
The BIR first asked to examine Toshiba’s books for taxable year 2007 on Aug. 8, 2008 when the bureau issued Letter of Authority (LoA) No. 00048923. Because Toshiba ignored the first LoA, the BIR issued several more requests until it had to resort to a subpoena duces tecum.
The subpoena was issued to Toshiba on Feb. 12, 2009 which the Japanese firm still ignored. The BIR then filed a criminal case against Toshiba’s responsible corporate officers for failing to comply with the subpoena.
The BIR then conducted an audit at the Toshiba plant in Better Living, Parañaque and discovered that it failed to record P20.18 million in sales for 2007.
In addition, an examination of its certificates of creditable tax withheld at source showed an accumulated sales amounting  to P58.74 million.
The BIR’s audit also showed that the Toshiba declared losses amounting to P27.69 million in 2006 that was unsubstantiated that it deducted from its 2007 income to bring down its taxable income for the year.
The BIR asked Toshiba to present documentary evidence to refute its assessment on Feb. 20, 2010 that was again ignored. The BIR then served Toshiba its preliminary assessment notice on Dec. 1, 2010 for which it was seeking the payment of P58.11 million in deficiency taxes including surcharge and interest that can be broken down into deficiency income tax of P38.55 million, deficiency value added tax of P18.77 million and deficiency withholding tax of P794,609.56.
Toshiba did not contest the assessment and was subsequently issued a formal assessment notice on Jan.4, 2011. Toshiba still did not contest the assessment or pay the tax. Under the law, the formal assessment notice becomes “final, executory, unappealable and demandable” because Toshiba failed to file a protest within the reglementary period of 30 days upon its receipt.
The BIR sent Toshiba a collection letter on May 4, 2011 demanding the payment of its tax liabilities and a final notice before seizure was issued on May 18, 2011 to give Toshiba the last chance to settle the tax.
Despite the issuance and service of a warrant of distraint/levy on Aug. 18, 2011 to the banks directing the sale or forfeiture of Toshiba’s properties, the deficiency tax remains unpaid.
The complaint against Gonzales is for her attempt to evade taxes and her failure to file her income tax returns as sole proprietor of Yasiok Dimsum Food House for taxable years 2008 and 2010 and her failure to supply correct and accurate information in her VAT returns for 2008 to 2010.
Yasiok has a food concession at Pagcor’s Casino Filipino near the airport.
According to Pagcor, Yasiok received P39.95 million in sales net of withholding tax for taxable years 2008 and 2010.
The BIR computed Gonzales’ deficiency taxes at P41.42 million broken down into: P25.61 million in deficiency income taxes and P15.8 million in deficiency VAT.