MANILA, Philippines – The Bureau of Internal Revenue regional office has closed down a hardware shop in Bulacan for failure to pay value-added tax (VAT).
The BIR said Smiley Hardware, formerly Sun City Construction Supply, has failed to pay some P9 million to P10 million in VAT for the past two years.
According to BIR Regional Director Gerardo Florendo, this particular hardware store has been under surveillance for many months. The BIR has also sent letters but these were ignored by the owner.
Florendo said the hardware store even changed its name to Smiley Hardware to evade prosecution.
The estimated P9 million to P10 million tax deficiency is just for VAT. The hardware store may also be liable for income tax non-payment but the BIR will still assess the deficiency.
The store owner Binleng Lu Bonamy was present during the closure proceeding but refused to say a word when pressed for comment by journalists.
All personnel were asked to vacate the hardware shop before the BIR padlocked the establishment.
The operation is part of BIR’s Oplan Kandado program aimed at running after establishments that are not paying the correct taxes.
The tax bureau is hard-pressed to meet its 2013 goal of P1.254 trillion. So far, it has only raised P593.7 billion in the first 6 months of 2013, P72 billion higher than the collection for the same period last year.
source: http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/business/07/24/13/bir-shuts-hardware-store-failing-pay-vat
