‘PAY CORRECT TAXES’

It shut down the company’s five warehouses and three restaurants in the cities of Cebu and Mandaue last Tuesday The company only registered the business as a whole in BIR Cebu City South: BIR 13 Director Eduardo Pagulayan Owner Frederick Ong Jr. asks th

Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) 13 Director Eduardo Pagulayan said Ong Kin King and Co. Inc. failed to register individually its five warehouses and three restaurants which are located in the cities of Cebu and Mandaue.

“What the owners registered is the business as a whole in BIR Cebu City South. They failed to include its warehouses and branches mandated by BIR,” said Pagulayan.

Moreover, Pagulayan said there are still POS (point of sales) machines that need to be accounted for. He said based on their audit, there are 57 POS registered but they only accounted 54 POS machines.

Jobs at risk

He said they haven’t determined yet the extent of the company’s unpaid tax obligation.

“We are still collecting data given the extent of their business operation,” he said.

The five warehouses and

We are still collecting data given the extent of their business operation.

BIR 13 DIRECTOR EDUARDO PAGULAYAN ON THE EXTENT OF THE COMPANY’S UNPAID TAXES

three restaurants were shut down last Tuesday.

Frederick Ong Jr., owner of Ong Kin King and Co. Inc., yesterday said that he is willing to pay the penalty the BIR will impose, although he said that in his 60 years in the business, he only found out the other day that a warehouse needed to be registered.

Ong said he hopes that the BIR will speed up computation of the penalty otherwise more than 200 employees of Harrison Park, Lucky Seven Grocery and warehouses will lose their jobs.

He said that even though some of his POS machines and cash registers are expired, he regularly pays his sales taxes. He said he doesn’t know why he was not reminded of the expiry dates by the BIR.

Philanthropy

Ong said that since Harisson Park is composed of mixed items, he thought the food section didn’t have to be declared as a grill eatery. But he said he still paid taxes for the sales of the food section.

Ong is considered a philanthropist in Cebu, having donated several school buildings, among others, and having sponsored sports activities.

Ong is also known as Lama. He’s the grandson of Ong Kin King, a Chinese immigrant who arrived in Cebu in the beginning of the 20th century.

Ong is chairman of Ong Kin King & Co.

Aside from trading, the family is also engaged in real estate, shipping/tramping, manufacturing of packaging products. The family also has several joint ventures, such as St. Vincent General Hospital, Cebu Eastern College and Cebu Coliseum Complex.

SUNSTAR FOTOS/ARNI ACLAO UNLUCKY NOW. One of the Ong Kin King stores, Lucky 7 Supermart, on Plaridel St., Cebu City has been shut down by the Bureau of Internal Revenue for nonpayment of correct taxes. Frederick Ong Jr. (inset), grandson of the late Ong Kin King, says he was unaware he needed to pay tax for his warehouses but he is willing to pay the taxes his companies owe the government.

SUNSTAR FOTO/ ARNI ACLAO TAX OBLIGATION. The “flagship” store of Ong Kin King & Co. Inc. on Plaridel St. in Cebu City is open for business, but not the company’s five warehouses and three restaurants spread out in the cities of Cebu and Mandaue. The Bureau of Internal Revenue shut these down for unpaid tax obligation.