BIR files tax evasion complaint against Rappler Holdings

The Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) has filed a criminal complaint against the parent company of Rappler Inc. for “willful attempt to evade or defeat tax and for deliberate failure to supply correct and accurate information in its annual income tax return and value-added tax returns for taxable year 2015.”

The BIR filed the tax evasion complaint against Rappler Holdings Corp. (RHC) together with its president, Maria A. Ressa and Treasurer James C. Bitanga at the Department of Justice (DOJ) on Thursday.

The agency said that Rappler Holdings has an “aggregated tax liability of P133,841,305.75.” That is, P91,320,481.08 in income tax and P42,520,824.67 in VAT.

In response to this, Ressa described the speedy decision of BIR to file a complaint as the latest harassment of the government against Rappler.

She adds that BIR should “check its own records” for it had previously “recognized Rappler as one of the top 500 corporate taxpayers in region 7.”

(DAILY NEWS ROUND UP FOR 03/ 09/18)