The Bureau of Internal Revenue has asked the Department of Justice to prosecute actor Richard Gutierrez for more tax cases aside from the tax evasion cases earlier filed against him for allegedly defrauding the government of P38.57 million in taxes.
In a complaint filed with the DOJ, the BIR accused Gutierrez for falsification of public documents and perjury after allegedly submitting fake documents to the DOJ during a preliminary investigation on the tax evasion charge last month.
The bureau specifically accused Gutierrez of “knowingly using and submitting falsified” annual income tax return for 2012 and quarterly value-added tax returns for the second, third and fourth quarters of the same year.
The BIR also sought the indictment of Gutierrez for two counts of perjury under Article 183 of the Revised Penal Code for lying in his counter-affidavit.
“Respondent Gutierrez filed fake and falsified tax returns to secure the dismissal of the tax evasion case filed against R Gutz Production Corp. He resorted to this scheme to evade payment of taxes/fees imposed by NIRC [National Internal Revenue Code] of 1997 thereby defrauding the government of much needed revenues,” read the complaint. “The attached returns were deceptively made to appear to have been stamped received by Revenue District Office No. 42-San Juan City. Revenue District Office No. 42-San Juan City and the Document Processing Division of BIR Quezon City both certified that R Gutz Production Corp. had no VAT returns filed for the 2nd, 3rd and 4th quarters of taxable year 2012,” the BIR said.
In a hearing last July 13, Gutierrez appeared before the DoJ and submitted his counter-affidavit seeking the dismissal of the complaint for lack of probable cause. His lawyers said the actor no longer has any tax liability as the amount cited by the BIR in the complaint has already been paid.
In its complaint filed last April, the BIR alleged that the 33-year-old actor failed to declare P39.6 million in sales from April to December 2012.