BIR padlocks Mactan hotel for failing to pay taxes
A HOTEL RESORT in Barangay Maribago, Lapu-Lapu City was closed by the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) after the management failed to pay its tax obligations.
Eduardo Pagulayan Jr, BIR regional director, led a team and implemented the closure order of EGI Cebu Inc. on Friday morning.
Pagulayan said that the EGI Cebu Inc. has been given opportunities to rebutt the BIR findings of around 30 percent of their undeclared income and unregistered invoices but the management failed to do so.
John Libunao, the acting head of the corporation for administration said, they expected the possible closure but they are still on the process of reconciling their papers.
He said, they are very willing to reconcile with BIR and pay by next week their obligations and penalties.
“I am just new to my job and was kind of confused on how to go about the existing arrangement of the papers including the tax obligations,” said Libunao.
He added, he would issue more statements as soon as he would be able to complete the reports.
According to Libunao, 93 employees were affected by the temporary closure and they had facilitated the transfer arrangements of accommodations of around 41 Korean guests.
According to Pagulayan, they should comply with the BIR’s demands before they could resume operations or they would face criminal charges if they would violate the closure order.
“What we are doing now is implementing the administrative sanction and no criminal charges yet,” said Pagulayan.
The main entrance of the hotel has been padlocked by Pagulayan himself and a tarpaulin was placed indicating the hotel is closed as ordered by BIR commissioner Ceasar Dulay.
He further explained that establishments such as hotels or resorts are given enough opportunities to rebutt their findings and are not immediately closed as they also understand the government’s thrust in earning revenue from tourism.
The 10-storey 105 room hotel has 93 employees who will be affected by the closure
The management has started refusing bookings from guests considering the notice of closure.
Pagulayan also said that they had intensified the campaign against those companies with tax issues under the Oplan Kandado.
They have even collected around P280 million recently from tax evader companies.
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