5 Pansol resort owners in hot water for lacking BIR registration

Amid the summer heat, five owners of four resorts in Barangay Pansol in Calamba, Laguna found themselves in hot water on being slapped criminal complaints by the Bureau of Internal Revenue on Wednesday as their businesses were unregistered with the tax-collection agency.

In a statement, the BIR said the following resort owners were charged with unlawful pursuit of business:

• Francisco Galang of Cool Breeze Resort
• Leonora Austria of Don Bosco Private Resort
• Aida Metalla and Concepcion Rossiter of Labelle Resort
• Lydia Carlos Salimbacod of Pearl Sal Private Resort

“The complaints against the said resort owners emanated from the conduct of the tax compliance verification drive or tax mapping on all business establishments located in Calamba City,” the BIR said.

“During the tax mapping activity, the said respondents through their representatives were asked to present registration documents issued by the BIR such as certificate of registration, proof of payment of the annual registration fee for 2018, notice to the public (ask for receipt), and sales invoices/official receipts but failed to present any. Subsequent confirmation from the BIR’s registration database showed that the respondents are not registered with BIR Revenue District Office No. 56-Central Laguna,” the BIR said.

“Further verification with the office of the city mayor, business permit and license section of Calamba City also revealed that they did not register their businesses for taxable year 2018,” the BIR added. “Despite several notices and reminders from the BIR and the lapse of sufficient amount of time, the aforementioned respondents still conducted their business operations without registering with the BIR, paying the corresponding annual registration fee, and paying the compromise penalties imposed for the violations committed.”

As such, the BIR said it was “clear that the respondents committed the offense of unlawful pursuit of business for failure to register” their respective resorts with the revenue agency, a violation of Section 258 in relation to Section 236(A) and (B) of the National Internal Revenue Code of 1997, as amended, or the Tax Code. /atm