The Finance Department is studying the declaration of tax amnesty “sometime in the future,” or once the government identifies and successfully prosecutes tax evaders.
Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III told reporters over the weekend it was important that people took seriously the government’s campaign against tax evasion.
“I said we will consider the tax amnesty sometime in the future. You know there is a psychological effect here. If you declare a tax amnesty and they are not afraid of you, they will not give you any money right?” Dominguez said.
“So here, they have to know that we are capable of going after people who are tax cheats. So that’s when we will announce the tax amnesty, if we feel that people are taking us seriously,” Dominguez said.
He said the declaration of a tax amnesty could be done either by legislation or through an executive order. He did not say who could qualify for the tax amnesty program.
Dominguez said a tax amnesty in the Philippines could be different from that of Indonesia which had a lot of money abroad estimated around 40 percent of its GDP, and that one way of bringing back the money stashed overseas was to declare tax amnesty.
“The Indonesians have a different problem. Our people just have not paid taxes,” Dominguez said.
Dominguez also said any declaration of tax amnesty could be done “by piecemeal” and the target sectors would depend on the laws that would be passed.
Dominguez said Bureau of Internal Revenue and Customs would always be at the lookout for tax evaders. “We are always looking. I cannot give you a name, any targets,” he said.
He said it was important that enough evidence would be gathered to make any case filed airtight, adding the DOF, DOJ, BIR and Customs were serious in doing their jobs.
“Of course, the DOF is supporting them but again it is teamwork between Finance and our two units BOC and BIR and of course with the DOJ. So it is a teamwork and we are going to make sure that the cases are airtight.
The Bureau of Internal Revenue filed a P9.6-billion criminal complaint against local cigarette firm Mighty Corp. before the Department of Justice on March 22 for unlawful possession of articles subject to excise tax without payment of the tax, and for possession of false, counterfeit, restored or altered stamps.
The use of fake tax stamps was uncovered during a series of surprise BOC inspections on warehouses storing cigarette brands belonging to Mighty Corp.