Open Message to BIR, DOF, and DOJ

OPEN MESSAGE TO BIR, DOF, and DOJ

We are happy that BIR will pursue self-employed professionals who are tax evaders. We hope that BIR will not waste its effort in barking at a wall or the wrong tree.

Most of us who proudly call ourselves "self-employed" are, in reality, either unemployed or underemployed -- meaning, we don't actually make money because of government failure to protect our proprietary rights to practice as licensed professionals. As a result, our supposed to be earnings are being stolen by the unlicensed practitioners. These unlicensed practitioners have already paid the taxes that we, the licensed ones, could have paid.

Although we are non-earners, believe it or not, we do care for government. In fact, we have a suggestion on how government can make HUGE money from these real estate tycoons. Our suggestion is easy to do, but you can only do this (1) if you have the "balls", and (2) if the President will not accept bribe from these tycoons. Now, listen carefully, below is my suggestion.

We suggest BIR to review the withholding tax remittance record of sales agents of (1) real estate developers and (2) real estate marketing companies, and (3) bank departments selling foreclosed properties and cross check the taxpayer's names individually with the record of the Professional Regulations Commission (PRC) to determine if the taxpayer legally earned commission as PRC licensed real estate agent (Broker or Salesperson) or illegally earned commission as an unlicensed real estate agent. The Department of Justice (DOJ) may use the tax record as proof that a person practiced the profession without license, and by virtue of RA 9646, the government can collect a fine of P200,000 each count from the real estate tycoon who owns the company, plus P200,000 each count from the unlicensed real estate agent who received the commission. How much money are we talking about here that government can potentially gain from fines? Ninety-five (95) percent of real estate agents are unlicensed, hence, expect that you can get P400,000 fines from each count of the 95% of the condominiums, houses, and subdivision lots that got sold by unlicensed real estate agents since January 2010.

Those earnings and taxes could have been paid by us, the licensed ones, if they were not stolen by the unlicensed real estate agents. The real estate tycoons make a lot of money in engaging unlicensed real estate agents. Wealth gained from engaging unlicensed real estate agents is clear ill-gotten wealth. The FINES on the real estate tycoons is just a fraction of their ill-gotten wealth.

To all licensed real estate practitioners, please share this message on your timeline. By sharing this, you are doing your part in sending our message to BIR in response to their eagerness to MAKE MONEY FOR GOVERNMENT from real estate transactions.

By the way, the Integrated Professional Organization of Real Estate Practitioners (IPORESP.ORG) has declared a Licensing Strike, which means the government will never make licensing money and taxes from the licensed ones until we lift the strike. This is a peaceful strike, 100% virtual, you won't see us with placards on the street. We are open for dialogue.

JohnPetalcorin
Rltr® John R. Petalcorin
Licensed Real Estate Broker
Convenor, IPORESP.Org
Founder, RealterSociety.Org

---

If there is anything else important that I forgot to include in this article, or if you experienced a real estate transaction that is anomalous, scam, fraudulent scheme that you want me to document and expose for others to be warned, or if you want to donate to the war chest of real estate consumer rights advocacy, please feel free to email me at JohnPetalcorin@Gmail.Com. If you want to comment about this article, there is a provision for this purpose that you can find below.
Thank you so much for visiting my site. May God Bless You!