Presidential Decree No. 785 (PD 785) — Amending Section Seventy-Three of the National Internal Revenue Code, as Amended, by Prescribing an Increased Penalty on Filers of False or Fraudulent Income Tax Returns.
WHEREAS, one of the objectives of the proclamation of
martial law is for the Government to institute much needed reforms in
the existing tax structure in order to promote the social and economic
well-being of our people;
WHEREAS, in order to insure the success of said reforms it
is imperative that our taxpayers be imbued with a profound sense of
discipline and awareness of the penal consequences of any infraction
committed by them against our internal Revenue laws, particularly acts
of tax evasion which undermine the economic stability of the nation;
WHEREAS, it has been found that the penalty prescribed under
existing laws for tax evasion, specifically that embodied in the second
paragraph of Section 73 of the National Internal Revenue Code which
penalizes the filing of false and fraudulent returns with intent to
evade payment of the correct income tax, is disproportionate to the
gravity of the offense, such that its efficacy as a penal sanction has
now become practically nil.
NOW, THEREFORE, I, FERDINAND E. MARCOS, President of the
Philippines, by virtue of the powers vested in me by the Constitution do
hereby decree and order the amendment of the National Internal Revenue
Code as follows:
SECTION 1. Section 73 of the National Internal Revenue Code
is hereby amended to read as follows:
"SEC. 73. Penalty for failure to file return or to pay
tax.—Any one liable to pay the tax, to make a return or to supply
information required under this Code, who refuses or neglects to pay
such tax, to make such return or to supply such information at the time
or times herein specified in each year, shall be punished by a fine of
not more than two thousand pesos or by imprisonment for not more than
six months, or both. "Any individual or any officer of any corporation,
or general co-partnership (compania colectiva), required by law to make,
render, sign, or verify any return or to supply any information, who
makes any false or fraudulent return or statement with intent to defeat
or evade the assessment required by this Code to be made, shall be
punished by a fine of not less than Five Thousand Pesos and imprisonment
of not less than two years.'
SEC. 2. All laws, decrees, executive orders, rules and
regulations inconsistent with this Decree are hereby repealed and/or
modified accordingly.
SEC. 3. This Decree shall take effect immediately.
Done in the City of Manila, this 29th day of August, in the year of
Our Lord, nineteen hundred and seventy-five.
(Sgd.)
FERDINAND E. MARCOS
President
Republic of the Philippines
By the President:
(Sgd.)
ROBERTO V. REYES
Acting Executive Secretary
Source: Supreme Court E-Library, Republic of the Philippines. Philippine laws are public documents (works of the government).
