Title X, Chapter IV – Other Penal Provisions

SECTION 274.  Penalty for Second and Subsequent Offenses. – In the case of reincidence, the maximum of the penalty prescribed for the offense shall be imposed.

SECTION 275.  Violation of Other Provisions of this Code or Rules and Regulations in General. – Any person who violates any provision of this Code or any rule or regulation promulgated by the Department of Finance, for which no specific penalty is provided by law, shall, upon conviction for each act or omission, be punished by a fine of not more than One thousand pesos (P1,000) or suffer imprisonment of not more than six (6) months, or both.

SECTION 276.  Penalty for Selling, Transferring, Encumbering or in any way Disposing of Property Placed under Constructive Distraint. – Any taxpayer, whose property has been placed under constructive distraint, who sells, transfers, encumbers or in any way disposes of said property, or any part thereof, without the knowledge and consent of the Commissioner, shall, upon conviction for each act or omission, be punished by a fine of not less than twice the value of the property so sold, encumbered or disposes of but not less than Five thousand pesos (P5,000), or suffer imprisonment of not less than two (2) years and one (1) day but not more than four (4) years, or both.

SECTION 277.  Failure to Surrender Property Placed under Distraint and Levy. – Any person having in his possession or under his control any property or rights to property, upon which a warrant of constructive distraint or actual distraint and levy has been issued shall, upon demand by the Commissioner or any of his deputies executing such warrant, surrender such property or right to property to the Commissioner or any of his deputies, unless such property or right is, at the time of such demand, subject to an attachment or execution under any judicial process. Any person who fails or refuses to surrender any of such property or right shall be liable in his own person and estate to the Government in a sum equal to the value of the property or rights not so surrendered but not exceeding the amount of the taxes (including penalties and interest) for the collection of which such warrant had been issued, together with costs and interest if any, from the date of such warrant. In addition, such person shall, upon conviction for each act or omission, be punished by a fine of not less than Five thousand pesos (P5,000), or suffer imprisonment of not less than six (6) months and one (1) day but not more than two (2) years, or both.

SECTION 278.  Procuring Unlawful Divulgence of Trade Secrets. – Any person who causes or procures an officer or employee of the Bureau of Internal Revenue to divulge any confidential information regarding the business, income or inheritance of any taxpayer, knowledge of which was acquired by him in the discharge of his official duties, and which it is unlawful for him to reveal, and any person who publishes or prints in any manner whatever, not provided by law, any income, profit, loss or expenditure appearing in any income tax return, shall be punished by a fine of not more than two thousand pesos (P2,000). or suffer imprisonment of not less than six (6) months nor more than five (5) years, or both.

SECTION 279.  Confiscation and Forfeiture of the Proceeds or Instruments of Crime.– In addition to the penalty imposed for the violations of the provisions of Title X of this Code, the same shall carry with it the confiscation and forfeiture in favor of the Government of the proceeds of the crime or value of the goods, and the instruments or tools with which the crime was committed: Provided, however, That if in the course of the proceedings, it is established that the instruments or tools used in the illicit act belong to a third person, the same shall be confiscated and forfeited after due notice and hearing in a separate proceeding in favor of the Government if such third person leased, let, chartered or otherwise entrusted the same to the offender. Provided, further, That in case the lessee subleased, or the borrower, charterer, or trustee allowed the use of the instruments or tools to the offender, such instruments or tools shall, likewise, be confiscated and forfeited: Provided, finally, That property of common carriers shall not be subject to forfeiture when used in the transaction of their business as such common carrier, unless the owner or operator of said common carrier was, at the time of the illegal act, a consenting party or privy thereto, without prejudice to the owner’s right of recovery against the offender in a civil or criminal action. Articles which are not subject of lawful commerce shall be destroyed.

SECTION 280.  Subsidiary Penalty. – If the person convicted for violation of any of the provisions of this Code has no property with which to meet the fine imposed upon him by the court, or is unable to pay such fine, he shall be subject to a subsidiary personal liability at the rate of one (1) day for each Eight pesos and fifty centavos (P8.50) subject to the rules established in Article 39 of the Revised Penal Code.

SECTION 281.  Prescription for Violations of any Provision of this Code. – All violations of any provision of this Code shall be prescribed after Five (5) years.

Prescription shall begin to run from the day of the commission of the violation of the law, and if the same be not known at the time, from the discovery thereof and the institution of judicial proceedings for its investigation and punishment.

The prescription shall be interrupted when proceedings are instituted against the guilty persons and shall begin to run again if the proceedings are dismissed for reasons not constituting jeopardy.

The term of prescription shall not run when the offender is absent from the Philippines.

SECTION 282.  Informer’s Reward to Persons Instrumental in the Discovery of Violations of the National Internal Revenue Code and in the Discovery and Seizure of Smuggled Goods. –

(A)       For Violations of the National Internal Revenue Code. – Any person, except an internal revenue official or employee, or other public official or employee, or his relative within the sixth degree of consanguinity, who voluntarily gives definite and sworn information, not yet in the possession of the Bureau of Internal Revenue, leading to the discovery of frauds upon the internal revenue laws or violations of any of the provisions thereof, thereby resulting in the recovery of revenues, surcharges and fees and/or the conviction of the guilty party and/or the imposition of any of the fine or penalty, shall be rewarded in a sum equivalent to ten percent (10%) of the revenues, surcharges or fees recovered and/or fine or penalty imposed and collected or One million pesos (P1,000,000) per case, whichever is lower. The same amount of reward shall also be given to an informer where the offender has offered to compromise the violation of law committed by him and his offer has been accepted by the Commissioner and collected from the offender: Provided, That should no revenue, surcharges or fees be actually recovered or collected, such person shall not be entitled to a reward: Provided, further, That the information mentioned herein shall not refer to a case already pending or previously investigated or examined by the Commissioner or any of his deputies, agent or examiners, or the Secretary of Finance or any of his deputies or agents: Provided, finally, That the reward provided herein shall be paid under rules and regulations issued by the Secretary of Finance, upon recommendation of the Commissioner.

(B)       For Discovery and Seizure of Smuggled Goods. – To encourage  the public to extend full cooperation in eradicating smuggling, a cash reward equivalent to ten percent (10%) of the fair market value of the smuggled and confiscated goods or One million pesos (P1,000,000) per case, whichever is lower, shall be given to persons instrumental in the discovery and seizure of such smuggled goods.

The cash rewards of informers shall be subject to income tax, collected as a final withholding tax, at the rate of ten percent (10%).

The provisions of the foregoing Subsections notwithstanding, all public officials, whether incumbent or retired, who acquired the information in the course of the performance of their duties during their incumbency, are prohibited from claiming informer’s reward.

(Manual encoding credits: Magdaleno Abdon, Sept. 2020)