The Department of Justice has filed four tax evasion cases against private contractor Sarah Discaya over her alleged failure to declare and pay the correct amount of income tax for 2020 and 2021. The cases were submitted to the Court of Tax Appeals on February 3. Proceedings against her husband, Curlee, have been deferred due to a motion for reconsideration.
At a press briefing on February 6, DOJ spokesman Raphael Niccolo Martinez stated that the cases include two counts of violation of Section 254 of the National Internal Revenue Code over Discaya’s alleged “willful attempt to evade or defeat” her income tax liabilities for 2020 and 2021. They also involve two counts of violation of Section 255 of the NIRC for her supposed failure to supply the correct and accurate information in her income tax returns for those years.
Martinez noted, “And so, because of this filing, the BIR, as a matter of procedure, was asked to comment.”
Earlier, the DOJ announced that its prosecution panel had found “prima facie evidence with reasonable certainty of conviction” to indict the Discaya spouses for their income tax liabilities in 2020 and 2021 as proprietors of St. Gerrard Construction General Contractor and Development Corp. and Fine Things Fashion Wear House.
However, the DOJ dismissed the complaint of non-payment of excise tax against the couple under Section 263 of the NIRC, in connection with their imported vehicles. The Office of the Prosecutor General stated on February 4, “Under the NIRC, liability for excise taxes rests with the importer, not the end consumer.”
The cases are part of a broader investigation into the Discayas' activities related to their construction businesses.
