Actor-director Zoren Legaspi did not show up Wednesday for his P4.4-million tax evasion hearing at the Department of Justice (DOJ) and instead sent an accountant whose disclosure only drew more questions from the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR).
Legaspi had an “important appointment” and could not attend the first hearing of the preliminary investigation being conducted by the DOJ on the BIR complaint, according to his accountant Flora Capili, who said she was given special power of attorney.
Assistant State Prosecutor Stewart Mariano ordered Capili to tell Legaspi that he must appear on June 6 to file a counter-affidavit or else the matter would be deemed up for resolution. The DOJ official also maintained that a lawyer should be representing Legaspi in the hearing.
Mariano made the point on the need for a lawyer after Capili revealed that her client had four Taxpayer Identification Numbers (TIN).
Hearing this, one of the BIR lawyers present, said: “We have to take note of that because as far as we are concerned, there should only be one TIN.”
Turning to Capili, the lawyer said “possession of more than one TIN is violative of the Tax Code’” and could be a scheme to avoid payment of proper taxes.
Capili insisted she did not know why Legaspi had four TINs and that she was still making verifications with the different companies the actor had worked for.
The BIR panel asked Mariano to put Capili’s disclosure on the four TINs on record, but the DOJ official said he could not do this because Capili herself needed a counsel.
Mariano then warned Capili that she could not make admissions without Legaspi and an assisting counsel present.
The DOJ official later explained his action to reporters, saying he was just being fair because, again, Legaspi was not represented by a lawyer at the hearing.
The BIR has accused Legaspi of evading taxes and giving inaccurate information in his income tax returns for 2010 and 2012. The agency said the actor made P9.64 million in 2010 but declared only P6.79 million as gross income in his returns. In 2012, he earned P6.49 million but only declared P1.82 million, the bureau further alleged.
The bureau set Legaspi’s tax liability for 2010 and 2012 at P4.45 million, inclusive of surcharges and interest.