The Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) today filed a criminal complaint with the Department of Justice against ANTONIO VALERIANO M. BERNARDO (BERNARDO) for Willful Attempt to Evade or Defeat Tax, and Deliberate Failure to Supply Correct and Accurate Information in his Income Tax Returns (ITR) and Quarterly Value Added Tax Returns (QVATR) for taxable years 2012 and 2013, all in violation of Sections 254 and 255 of the National Internal Revenue Codeof 1997, as amended (Tax Code).

BERNARDO is a single proprietor under the trade name A.V.M. BERNARDO ENGINEERING with registered business address at 604 T. Santiago St., Linguan, Valenzuela City. He is engaged in the design, fabrication and installation of all food processing and slaughterhouse equipment. He is likewise a food consultant of hog and cattle line, and a food plant designer.

Preliminary investigation showed that BERNARDO filed his ITRs and QVATRs for 2013 and 2014. However, his income declaration did not match with the alpha lists of 1604E submitted to the BIR by his various withholding agents.

To verify the amount of discrepancies of BERNARDO, letters were sent to Mountain Maid Training and Development Foundation, Inc. (MMTDFI) and the National Tobacco Administration (NTA) requesting for certifications as to payments they made to BERNARDO for 2012 and 2013. In their reply with attached certifications, MMTDFI stated that it paid BERNARDO P4.30 million in 2012 and P189,990.72 in 2013, while NTA said it paid BERNARDO P22.39 million in 2012 and P39.87 million in 2013.

A review of all the data gathered from MMTDFI, NTA and the ITRs and QVATRs filed by BERNARDO with the BIR revealed that the latter failed to declare all his income from his business activities.

BERNARDO declared in his ITRs sales of P14.23 million and P21.23 million for 2012 and 2013, respectively. Investigation, however, revealed that he recorded sales of P26.58 million and P42.03 million for 2012 and 2013, respectively, thus substantially underdeclaring his gross sales by 86.76% or P12.35 million in 2012 and by 98% or P20.81 million in 2013.

In his QVATRs, he declared sales of P10.65 million and P15.96 million for 2012 and 2013, respectively. Compared to his sales per investigation of P26.58 million and P42.03 million for 2012 and 2013, respectively, BERNARDO grossly underdeclared his sales by 149.71% or P15.94 million in 2012 and by 163.33% or P26.08 million in 2013.

As a result of his acts and omissions, BERNARDO was assessed an estimated total tax liability of P32.81 million, inclusive of surcharges and interest, broken down into: 2012 – P13.23 million (IT – P8.66 million; and VAT – P4.57 million); and 2013 – P19.58 million (IT – P13.40 million; and VAT – P6.18 million).

The case against ANTONIO VALERIANO M. BERNARDO is the 439th filed under the RATE program of the BIR under the leadership of Commissioner Kim S. Jacinto-Henares. It is likewise a RATE case of the National Investigation Division.