The closure order issued and later rescinded by the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) on Megaworld Corp. stemmed from an initial disagreement with the agency’s Regional Office 8-B over issues of “jurisdiction” for tax audit, the developer said yesterday.
Megaworld said the tax audit would cover some of its properties but did not disclose these.
Megaworld said it has “clarified and resolved” as of Tuesday, May 17, 2022, these issues when the BIR closure order was announced.
Megaworld maintained it has no outstanding and unpaid past tax liabilities with the government, saying its books are “regularly audited by the Large Taxpayers Service of the BIR Head Office, and all its tax returns up to taxable year 2020 have been examined.
It added all previous deficiency assessments have been paid for by the company and duly cleared by the BIR Head Office.
“Records with the BIR will confirm that Megaworld has no outstanding or unpaid past tax liabilities needing any enforcement action,” it said.
“Megaworld has not received any closure order duly approved by the Commissioner of Internal Revenue,” it added.
Megaworld said for pending tax audits, it continues to maintain its stance of “full cooperation with the tax authorities in accordance with their mandate to collect badly needed revenues for the government.”
On Tuesday, the BIR announced it was set to close Megaworld the next day due to a still unspecified tax issue that was announced resolved by the company hours later.
On Tuesday, a media coverage was requested at Denny’s Uptown Parade with some BIR officials in attendance, including deputy commissioner Arnel Guballa.
The BIR announced later in the day the closure order is being “held in abeyance until further notice” after representatives from the company “manifested their full cooperation with all the requirements of the BIR.”
