Marcoleta Questions BIR Over Failure to Probe Tax Avoidance Schemes of ABS-CBN
House Deputy Speaker at SAGIP party-list Rep. Rodante Marcoleta questions the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) over failure to probe tax schemes of the ABS-CBN network.
Marcoleta chastises the BIR for failing to look into what ABS-CBN reportedly did to avoid paying higher taxes. According to Marcoleta, the BIR suspiciously declined to participate in the network’s unfair tax evasion schemes.
“One and a half years after the non-renewal of ABS-CBN’s franchise on account of several violations — one of which is the questionable and unjust, if not immoral tax avoidance schemes-the Bureau of Internal Revenue suspiciously refused to get into the bottom of it, ”Marcoleta said.
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According to Marcoleta, ABS-CBN created the Big Dipper as a digitizing and repurposing service so that its products may be seen on Netflix, iTunes, and Amazon. ABS-CBN Hungary (P1.37 billion), ABS-CBN (P838 million), and other network firms (P469 million) allegedly paid Big Dipper P2.68 billion in 2017.
Surprisingly, ABS-CBN paid Big Dipper P838 million for a service that it could do in-house and only spent P96 million. What type of company would spend P838 million to a service provider when it could perform the same job for P96 million in-house? Marcoleta had inquired.
The P1.37 billion purportedly paid to the Big Dipper by ABS-CBN Hungary can only be worth P150 million to P204 million. The Big Dipper is registered with the Philippine Economic Zone Authority, therefore it would only pay 5% tax, however, the money will be taxed at 30% if it is left with ABS-CBN, according to Marcoleta.
Instead, it hired the Big Dipper and paid it by P1.22 billion to save ABS-CBN (the parent business) from having to consider realized profits, which would have taxed the network at 30% if ABS-H had reported dividends to the parent firm, according to Marcoleta. If Marcoleta wins the Senate, he says he would be able to examine the BIR’s inactivity.
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