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Phillip Fry
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Fake Philippines Tax Collectors on the Prowl During Tax Return Filing SeasonApril 1, 2008. Manila, Philippines. The Philippines Bureau of Internal Revenue has warned business establishments against unscrupulous individuals posing as tax collectors as the season for filing income tax returns begins. "Fake Filipino Bureau of Internal Revenue personnel are taking advantage of the ongoing filing season as individual and corporate taxpayers all over the country are now busy preparing their 2007 income tax returns for filing and payment of their corresponding tax obligations,” the BIR warned in a statement. The BIR has implemented a program called Tax Compliance Verification Drive (TCVD), in which personnel of the tax agency are deployed to check on the accuracy of tax payments and observance of tax laws by business entities. It is during TCVD operations when BIR personnel investigate selected establishments on issuance of receipts, business registration, keeping of appropriate books of accounts, etc. However, the BIR said there were complaints that some people were falsely claiming to be BIR officials to extort from business establishments that had unpaid tax dues or that had not properly complied with tax rules. The BIR said Revenue District Officer Luis Alberto, head of the BIR’s office in the Malabon-Navotas area, received numerous complaints from business owners who said they were receiving letters “signed” by Alberto and asking them to pay taxes. Alberto said many of the letters did not come from his office. Revenue district offices of the BIR coordinated with police authorities to go after extortionists preying on corporate taxpayers. “It just so happened that my office was able to discover it. This could be a metro-wide operation,” Alberto said. Source: Inquirer.net April 1, 2008
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