The Department of Finance (DOF) has withheld the grant of a P57-million refund and another P262 million in tax credits claimed by a Bulacan-based textile firm covered by a special investigation of the Commission on Audit (COA) on “irregular” tax credit certificates (TCCs) issued during the past administrations.
Through its One-Stop Inter-agency Tax Credit and Duty Drawback Center (OSS), the DOF informed the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) of its the decision to put on hold the request of the Indo Phil Group of Companies (IPGC) pending the final results of the COA special audit on TCCs issued from 2008 to 2014.
“We highlight that Indo Phil Acrylic Manufacturing Corp. (IPAMC), Indo Phil Cotton Mills Inc. (IPCMI), and Indo Phil Textile Mills Inc. (IPTMI) are covered by the COA SAO (Special Audits Office) Report 2018-06, with findings of irregularities on the TCCs issued to each company for years 2008-2014,” OSS Executive Director Emee Macabeles said in a letter to Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III.
The Indo-Phil Group, a Filipino-Indian joint venture based in Marilao, Bulacan, include Indo Phil Textile Mills Inc. (IPTMI), Indo Phil Acrylic Manufacturing Corp. (IPAMC) and Indo Phil Cotton Mills Inc. (IPCMI).
Macabales wrote Bello in response to the Labor chief’s earlier referral of the request of Indo Phil Group president Shanti Sipani to have the firm’s P57-million tax refund and TCCs amounting to P262 million processed by the OSS.
Copies of Macabales’ letter were also sent to Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III and Undersecretary Antonette Tionko, who heads the DOF’s Revenue Operations Group (ROG).
Sipani had claimed in his request to Bello that Indo Phil’s tax refunds of P30.6 million for 2016 and P26.4 million for 2017 were already approved by the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR), but that the Bureau of Customs (BOC) had withheld payment because of the COA audit findings.
Indo Phil claimed that DOF has put on hold TCCs totaling P262 million–P69 million for IPTMI, another P91 million for IPCMI, and P102 million more for IPAMC– because of the COA audit report.
Sipani said Indo Phil “just followed the Government direction” in applying for the TCCs.
Macabales pointed out in her letter that the COA has begun issuing Notices of Disallowance to the companies for TCCs that were found to be “tainted with irregularities” and against the involved OSS officials and personnel for their participation in their issuance.
“Due to these developments and the enormity of the amount involved, the Department of Finance and OSS Center (are) taking precaution(s) before any request for TCCs, Tax Debit Memos (TDMs) or duty drawbacks are acted upon,” Macabales said in her letter to Bello.
Macabales assured Bello that the OSS will update his office “on any developments in the circumstances of the OSS Center.”
Created under Administrative Order (AO) No. 266 issued in 1992 to process TCCs and duty drawback applications, the OSS is a composite body managed by the DOF, BIR, BOC and the Board of Investments (BOI).
Earlier, the COA informed Dominguez that it has Notices of Disallowance on tax credits worth a combined P377.29 million granted by the OSS to four textile firms covering a four-year period from 2008 to 2012.
The COA-SAO disallowed TCCs issued to Capital-Roll Knit Corp. (CRC) amounting to P326.48 million; Uni-Glory’s Knitting Corp. (UKC), which received P15.03 million-worth of tax credits; Primeknit Manufacturing Corp. (PMC), PP15.76 million; and Tai-Cheng International Resource Inc. (TICIRI), P20.01 million.
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