THE Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) has filed multiple tax charges against contractors Pacifico and Cezarah Rowena Discaya for evading P7.182 billion in tax liabilities.
On Wednesday, the BIR filed criminal cases against the Discayas and their corporate officer after several investigations uncovered that the couple has unpaid individual income taxes, excise taxes on nine luxury vehicles and documentary stamp taxes on their supposed divestment from their four construction firms.
‘Curlee and Sarah Discaya are guilty of not paying their taxes. They failed to pay proper income taxes, excise taxes, even documentary stamp taxes. Government contractors are engaged to do public works and are paid through public funds; there is no reason why they should not pay their own share of taxes,’ Internal Revenue Commissioner Romeo D. Lumagui was quoted in a statement as saying.
According to the BIR, the Discayas failed to pay billions in income taxes from taxable years 2018 to 2021.
The BIR also found that the Discayas did not file the excise tax returns and pay the excise taxes of nine luxury vehicles registered under their names based on the records of the Land Transportation Office.
Moreover, the Discayas failed to file a documentary stamp tax (DST) return and pay their DSTs.
General Information Sheets of the four Discaya-owned construction firms-St. Gerrard, St. Timothy, St. Matthew, and Alpha and Omega-showed the couple made several transfers or disposals of shares of stocks from the companies.
The Discayas claimed that they had divested from such companies during the legislative hearings on flood control projects.
However, an investigation by the BIR revealed that the Discayas failed to file DST returns and pay the DSTs to properly execute the transfer of shares.
‘This means that not only did they fail to file the return and pay the corresponding taxes, they also failed to divest from any of these four companies as their beneficial owners,’ the BIR explained.
Lumagui said the Discayas never divested from the four companies since the BIR has no record of any return or payment for such divestment, particularly that of documentary stamp taxes. ‘They never divested because they never paid the corresponding taxes necessary for such divestment.’
‘The cases filed today are merely the tip of the iceberg.Once we have finished our audit of the Discaya-owned construction firms, we expect findings of billions of tax deficiencies,’ Lumagui added.
If the BIR discovers more taxes that have not been paid, the filing of tax charges will continue.
‘The same is true for other contractors and public officials involved in anomalous flood control projects,’ the BIR warned.