A HARDWARE company based in Barangay Catarman, Liloan town was ordered closed by the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) 7 for failing to pay taxes and for allegedly selling substandard materials.
Personnel from the BIR 7 led by Chief Revenue Officer Nico Lim implemented the temporary closure order against Cebu Grand Dragon Marketing Corp. on Friday, March 19, 2021.
SunStar Cebu tried to get the comment of James Lu, the firm’s owner, but to no avail.
Lim, who is also BIR 7’s Tax Fraud Section chief, said it took them three months to investigate the firm before they decided to issue the temporary closure order.
Lim said that during their investigation, they found the firm selling substandard materials.
Lim said that one of their personnel who conducted a test-buy encountered one staff member of the firm advising customers that the products they are selling are substandard.
Section 115 of Tax Code
He also found that the firm had not been paying its taxes and had not even issued receipts to customers.
Lim cited Section 115 of the Tax Code, which states that the BIR has the power to suspend business operations and temporarily close any business establishment “for any of the following violations, in the case of a VAT-registered person, his failure to issue receipts or invoices and understatement of taxable sales or receipts by 30 percent or more of his correct taxable sales or receipts for the taxable quarter.”
The temporary closure of the establishment shall be for the duration of not less than five days and shall be lifted only upon compliance with whatever requirements prescribed by the commissioner in the closure order, the law states.
The operation is part of the implementation of the nationwide “Oplan Kandado” Program.
Under the program, business operations of non-compliant taxpayers will be suspended and their establishments will be temporarily closed if they will be found to have violated certain tax laws. (JOB)