Corona’s bid to be arraigned on 6 tax cases only rejected

THE Court of Tax Appeals (CTA) denied the bid of former Chief Justice Renato Corona to be arraigned only on six counts of tax evasion cases instead of 12.

The government filed 12 counts of tax evasion case against the former chief magistrate: six for violation of Section 255 of the National Internal Revenue Code (NIRC) for failure to file, supply correct and accurate information and pay tax and another six for violation of Section 254 or an attempt to evade or defeat tax.

Corona’s lawyers filed an urgent motion insisting that Corona should be arraigned only for violating Section 255, or failure to file income tax returns. They argued that both sections constituted the same acts of tax evasion under the NIRC.

But the tax court was not convinced and ordered that Corona be arraigned for violation of Section 254 as well.

The charges stemmed from Corona’s alleged failure to file income tax returns for the years 2003, 2004, 2005, 2007, 2008 and 2010. His tax deficiency for those years were broken down as follows:

• 2003- P3,944,275.58
• 2004- P5,824771.58
• 2005-P5,700,037.57
• 2007-P7,269,149.37
• 2008-P10,861,770.37
• 2010-P16,980,059.48

All are inclusive of interest and surcharges.