BIR files tax evasion rap vs beverage, software firms

THE Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) filed a tax evasion complaint against two corporations before the Department of Justice (DOJ) for having a total of over P80-million tax liabilities.

Facing a case for failure to pay deficiency tax liabilities are Mangosteen Beverage Corporation (MBC), its officials Nathan Daniel Brown, Chairman of the Board, President Anthony Craig Hale and Treasurer Marc Wendell Walker as well as Software Laboratories Inc. (SLI) and its officers President Miguel F. Cervantes and Chief Financial Officer Gideon Dante T. Galang.

At a press conference Thursday, the BIR said MBC’s tax liability for 2007 reached P54.69-million inclusive of increments while SLI’s tax liability totaled P34.25-million.

BIR records showed that respondents were served the requisite Letters of Authority (LOA), Preliminary Assessment Notices (PAN), Formal Letters of Demand (FLD) with Details of Discrepancies, and Final Decision on Disputed Assessments (FDDA) but failed to protest said assessments, hence making the same final, executory and demandable.

The subsequent issuance of Preliminary Collection Letters, Final Notices Before Seizure, and Warrants of Distraint and/or Levy was ignored by the respondents, as the tax assessments remained unpaid.

“The respondents’ obstinate failure and continued refusal to pay their long overdue deficiency tax assessments, despite repeated demands, constitute willful failure to pay the taxes due to the government,” the BIR complaint stated. AC