Gordon urges BIR to file tax fraud charges vs 5 motorcycle dealers
Senator Richard J. Gordon urged the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) to file immediately tax fraud charges against five motorcycle dealers who purportedly defrauded the government of billions of pesos from their sales of motorcycles.
In a statement last December 4, 2021, Gordon, who chairs the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee (SBRC), said the ball is now with the tax agency after being informed that the Department of Finance (DOF) has already endorsed to the BIR as far back as September 13, 2021, the filing of tax fraud charges against these five motorcycle dealers or distributors.
“The BIR should lose no time in running after these motorcycle dealers who cheated the government of billions of pesos worth of revenue that could have been used in its pandemic response,” Gordon said.
The issue stemmed from the complaint against the dealers filed by Land Transportation Office (LTO) 7 Regional Director Victor Emmanuel Caindec.
According to Caindec, these motorcycle dealers, which are based in Mindano, allegedly issued “double invoices containing different invoice numbers, dates, fraudulent misdeclaration of actual place of sale, and even total purchase of price” of the sold motorcycles.
These dealers are Du Ek Sam Inc., Desmark Corporation, DES Marketing Inc., Premio Corporation, and DES Strong Inc. which allegedly abused LTO’s MAIRDOEs (manufacturers, assemblers, importers, rebuilders, dealers, and other entities) system.
Under the MAIRDOES system, these five motorcycle dealers would get the installment money from motorcycle buyers without giving them the registration papers or license plates. Instead, the motorcycle buyer only gets invoices for his purchase.
Instead of registering a motorcycle after it has been sold, the dealer holds the registration documents so that if the owner fails in paying the monthly amortization, the dealer will repossess the motorcycle and sell it again as a demonstration unit.
“These motorcycle dealers sell units to ordinary Filipinos in need of mobility with exorbitant installment rates of 36 percent and favor the delays in the release of plates and registration papers as they issue only invoices to customers, thereby depriving government of revenues,” Gordon noted.
The filing of tax fraud charges was also among the results of the investigation conducted by the SBRC looking at the delay by LTO and dealers in the implementation of Republic Act (RA) 11235 or Motorcycle Crime Prevention Act earlier this year.
Gordon’s investigation originally zeroed in on the weak detection capability of the LTO in its database of motorcycle plate numbers amid the high number of crimes involving “riding-in-tandem” (RIT) suspects.
During the Senate inquiry, it was discovered that dealers did not deliver the official receipt/certificate of registration (OR/CR) to buyers and did not register the encumbrance over the unit.
Instead, the dealers report every sale as paid in full as opposed to installment for less paperwork and payment of taxes via chattel mortgage registration fees and installment sales.
“Customers are then required to execute a promissory note which corresponds to the purchase on installment, which is a clear case of falsification,” Gordon added further.
Gordon, who also chairs the Senate Justice and Human Rights Committee, slammed such malpractice as a flagrant violation of Article 52 of Republic Act 7394, also known as the Consumer Act of the Philippines.
“Ang ating ordinaryong tao ay luging-lugi sa mga mapang-abusong negosyanteng ito. Dahil walang OR/CR na nagpapatunay ng kanilang pagmama-ari, hihilahin na agad ito sa oras na malingat sa pagbabayad,” he explained.
“Because of the lack of database of motorcycle registration, people who are being murdered are losing their chance at justice because the LTO and PNP could not identify the suspects properly,” he added.
Gordon has recommended that a Magna Carta of Motorcycle Owners and Riders be crafted as he also pushed to amend RA 11235, in order to penalize the dealer’s failure to register motorcycles sold and provide the original OR/CR from the LTO.
Another proposed move is the updating of RA 4136, or the Land Transportation and Traffic Code of 1964 and the Consumer Act, in order to address emerging problems in the transport sector.
