THE COURT of Tax Appeals (CTA) has stood by its decision to dismiss criminal charges against Camp John Hay Hotel Corp. in connection with a tax case filed by the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR).
In a 16-page order dated Aug. 3, the court upheld the Justice department’s dismissal of the charges after the bureau failed to prove the necessity of the company submitting financial records for a tax audit.
It said the Department of Justice (DoJ) did not abuse its discretion in dismissing the criminal charges for insufficient evidence.
“We subscribe to the findings of the Court in Division when it stated that the public prosecutor should be given a ‘wide latitude of discretion in the conduct of a preliminary investigation,’” the tax court said.
Under the Tax Code, the BIR commissioner can order a taxpayer to submit books and other documents.
A person who fails to follow the order may be fined as much as P10,000 or get a jail term of up to two years.
But the tax court said revenue officers had managed to audit Camp John Hay’s books “without indication that it was prevented from doing so.” — John Victor D. Ordoñez
