GOVERNMENT auditors have revealed that the provincial government of Masbate has not remitted P68.35 million in total deductions from employees’ salaries for their taxes and insurance contributions.
Of the said amount, auditors said P35.512 million was due the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR), P29.053 million for the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth), P3.388 million to the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS), and P392,667.24 to the Home Development Mutual Fund (PagIBIG).
The audit team said the province had an inter-agency payable balance of P38.288 million at the start of 2020.
This ballooned to P89.86 million as of the yearend but went down to P68.345 million after remittance of P14.23 million to the BIR; P5.79 million to the GSIS; P759,191.41 to PagIBIG; and P732,795.12 to PhilHealth.
The Masbate provincial government assured the audit team that taxes due the BIR have been remitted as of the first quarter of 2021 involving prior years’ balances from 2011 to 2016.
It said further reconciliation of accounts is being done for those forwarded balances that are aged one decade of older.
On the PhilHealth account, it said P26.62 million is a trust liability which is still subject to liquidation.
The COA noted that Masbate has “religiously and timely remitted collections” to government agencies in 2020 except for the long-existing amounts that have remained unreconciled.
It cautioned the provincial government that delayed or non-remittance of amounts due would cause provincial officials serious trouble if interest and penalties are imposed.
“Laws, rules, and regulations provide that any penalty imposed on late remittance shall be the personal liability of the concerned personal in charge of remittance,” the COA warned.
