SAN JOSE, Antique – Three business establishments in Antique and Aklan provinces have been closed as part of the Bureau of Internal Revenue’s (BIR) “Oplan Kandado” campaign.
BIR District 73 Revenue District Officer Marilou Nebit and BIR-Iloilo City director (Revenue Region No. 11) led the store lockdowns last Tuesday.
The three establishments – Jerry Mart in Barangay Poblacion, Tobias Fornier, Antique; JMT Housewares in Barangay Poblacion, Barbaza, Antique; and Atong Mart in Barangay Poblacion, Nabas, Aklan – were all owned by James Caballero Tan.
According to the closure order, Tan failed to register his stores as VAT (value-added tax) businesses despite their sales “exceeding the threshold of P1,919,500 for the period prior to Jan. 1, 2018 and P3,000,000 for the period of Jan. 1, 2018 and onwards.”
This is a violation of Republic Act 10963, or the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion Law, the order issued on June 4, 2019 stated.
BIR had been monitoring the erring stores for 10 days (Feb. 26 to March 7) prior to the lockdowns.
On April 17, Tan was issued an initial notice dated April 15. On May 9, BIR served him a five-day VAT compliance notice dated May 7.
But there was no response from Tan, according to the BIR. This prompted the agency to issue the closure order.
Espiritu said the stores would be unlocked when Tan pays more than 50 percent of the penalty the BIR has given him.
He however did not disclose how much the penalty was, but said the fine was worth “millions.”
Espiritu said the BIR is still conducting surveillance on some business establishments in the region, adding that there will be store lockdowns in Roxas City, Iloilo province, and Kalibo, Aklan.
He encouraged taxpayers in Region 6 to properly pay their taxes.
“I also encourage everybody to report whoever you think does not pay correct taxes, especially when it’s a big business. We know that there are still lots of them out there but they will be dealt with eventually.”/PN
