Tax cheats face probe as BIR lifts ban on tax audit

Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) Commissioner Caesar R. Dulay lifted yesterday the ban in the investigation of 2014 and prior income tax returns filed by individual and corporate taxpayers allegedly tainted with fraud. In signing Revenue Memorandum Circular No. 89-2016, the BIR chief instructed revenue agents to identify and prosecute tax cheats under its run-after-tax-evaders (RATE) project in compliance with the instructions of President Duterte to go hard against tax cheats and boost the chances of hitting the collection target of more than P2 trillion this year. “To continue the mandate of the BIR to investigate criminal violations of the Tax Code and to prosecute such cases to deter to the greatest possible degree tax evasion practices and to encourage voluntary compliance with tax laws,” Duulay said in the circular. The BIR chief suspended all field audit nationwide when he assumed on July 1 apparently to review and familiarize himself [...]