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Friday, April 22, 2005
Singer-actress charged for 'tax evasion, fraud'
* BIR urged not to focus only on movie stars in tax evasion drive
TAX officials filed criminal charges for tax evasion Thursday against singer-actress Regine Velasquez under its Run After Tax Evaders (Rate) program.
This, as Senator Ramon "Bong" Revilla, an actor-politician, asked the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) to not just zero-in on entertainment personalities in its tax evasion driver but also go after big-time tax evaders.
Tax officials and Department of Justice (DOJ) prosecutors declined to provide copies of the charge sheet against Velasquez (Chona Velasquez in real life), claiming that the documents are confidential.
In a press statement distributed to journalists however, the BIR said Velasquez is being indicted for allegedly under-declaring her income by P3.75 million and for allegedly filing a false or fraudulent return for 2003.
BIR Commissioner Guillermo Parayno said under their policy, cases that fall under the Rate program are not qualified for settlement.
A resident of Guiguinto, Bulacan, Velasquez is being held liable, according to Parayno, for allegedly misrepresentations in the declaration of her income as product endorser of Nestle Philippines and under-declaration of 48.29 percent of her true income in 2003.
Under BIR laws, failure to declare more than 30 percent of a taxpayer's income as substantial tax is "under-declaration". The offense is penalized with up to ten years imprisonment.
The BIR said the computer records showed that Velasquez has refund claims for taxable years 2001 and 2002 and an even return for 2003.
It also showed that Velasquez declared a combined income of more than P7.7 million from Viva Television Corporation, Maximedia International Inc. and GMA Network Inc.
Aside from the Nestle deal, Velasquez is also the main talent of the tourism department's commercial aimed at spurring domestic tourism and was a product endorser for KFC, Wendy's, Digitel, Lux, Smart and Nokia.
Velasquez, dubbed as Asia's Songbird, sang popular songs such as as "Ikaw" "Narito Ako" and released an album last month on inspirational songs.
Meanwhile, Senator Revilla appealed to the BIR to go after big-time tax evaders following the filing of tax evasion charges against Velasquez and actor Richard Gomez (Richard Frank Icasiano Gomez in real life) earlier this week.
"I commend the BIR for its effort to improve our tax collection system. I have always espoused for better tax collection schemes to help the country emerge from its financial woes. However, this recent move by the BIR seems sweeping as they appear to turn their focus only on celebrities," he said.
He added that the BIR can show its seriousness in running after and penalizing tax evaders if it could file charges against big firms and rich individuals who are allegedly not paying taxes religiously.
But the BIR already filed cases earlier against known business and fitness personalities. (BBP/JPM)
(April 22, 2005 issue)
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