PMA chief Olarte slapped with tax evasion rap

Leo Olarte, M.D., PMA president. CONTRIBUTED PHOTO/www.philippinemedicalassociation.org

MANILA, Philippines — Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) Commissioner Kim Henares said she only granted the request of Philippine Medical Association (PMA) President Dr. Leo Olarte to file tax raps against a doctor she knows is not paying proper taxes.

Olarte has been slapped with a tax evasion complaint before the Department of Justice for willful attempt to evade or defeat payment of income tax and value added tax and for several counts of deliberate failure to file his annual Income Tax Returns for 2006 to 2012.

The BIR said its investigators discovered that Olarte has been deriving compensation income concurrently from two or more employers and from the exercise of his profession for the said period amounting to P 569, 825.88 in 2006, P221, 206.22 in 2007, P226, 186.90 in 2008, P774. 990.59 in 2009, P715, 515.62 in 2010, P992, 298.84 in 2011 and P1, 919,576.01 in 2012. His tax liability is P2.93 million.

Despite the said income, the BIR said Olarte, who is not only a doctor but also a lawyer, failed to file his ITRs and VAT returns, and, consequently failed to pay the taxes for the said period.

“Further investigation showed that Olarte adopted the scheme of ‘end-dating’ his records with the  with the integrated tax system of the BIR to avoid detection of his non-filing of income tax return and the non-payment of income tax and thus, precluding the computer system from generating open cases against him,” the complaint said.

“As a result of his acts and omissions constituting violations of the Tax Code, he was assessed a total tax liability of P2.93 million in deficiency income and value added taxes for taxable years 2006 to 2012 inclusive of surcharges and interests,” it added.

Earlier, Olarte as PMA president criticized the BIR for its advertisement portraying that doctors are tax cheats. He called on the BIR to apologize over the print ads saying it depicted them as rich tax evaders when the truth is many doctors, especially those working in government hospitals are earning just P15, 000 to P20, 000 a month.

He asked Henares if she knew of doctors not paying the proper tax.

“He said if we know of any doctor not paying the proper tax, we should file a case against him or her. I just granted his request,” Henares said at a press conference Thursday.

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