MANILA — Four "ghost corporations" are facing criminal complaints filed by the Bureau of Internal Revenue before the Department of Justice for selling receipts to other companies.
BIR commissioner Romeo Lumagui, Jr. led the filing of the complaints against the corporations with an estimated total tax liability amounting to P25.5 billion.
The four corporations are facing violations of Sections 254, 255, and 267 of the National Internal Revenue Code of 1997.
"Kumpleto naman ang ating impormasyon dito na wala talagang transaksyon, pag tiningnan mo ang address ng mga korporasyon na ito, wala naman sila doon at wala talagang ni kahit anong property, ni kahit anong transaksyon na nagbebenta sila ng kahit ano, nagbibigay sila ng serbisyo sa mga iniisyuhan nila ng resibo," Lumagui said.
(Our information here is complete indicating there is no transaction. If you look at the address of these corporations, they are not there and there is absolutely no property, nor any transaction that they sell anything or provide services to those they issue receipts.)
The BIR said the cases stemmed from a December 2022 raid conducted by Lumagui in a condominium unit in Quezon City which led to the seizure of thousands of receipts.
The BIR said that after the raid, an investigation revealed that the ghost corporations were only established for the sole purpose of selling fictitious sales invoices and receipts to their buyers for the claim of false and anomalous purchases.
The government was thus supposed to have lost an estimated total deficiency income tax amounting to P17.63 billion and total deficiency value added tax amounting to P7.91 billion, for taxable years 2019-2021, inclusive of surcharges and interests.
"Malaki-laki talaga, kaya nga po bilyon-bilyon ang nawawala rito, ang ating revenue loss for this scheme, kaya sa amin, sinisigurado natin na talagang matututukan ito kasi malaki ang nawawala sa atin," Lumagui said.
(It's really big, that's why we're losing billions here, our revenue loss for this scheme. So for us, we're making sure that we make them liable because we're losing a lot.)
Lumagui also reminded the public of paying the right amount of taxes and warned those who evade paying their tax liabilities.
"Kaya din po natin gusto itong talagang maipahiwatig sa ating mga taxpayers na sana po yung mga gumagawa ng ganitong illegal na activity, tigilan na natin dahil this time seryoso kami, tututukan namin kayo, huhulihin namin kayo kakasuhan namin kayo para matigil ito," Lumagui, Jr.
(That's why we want to really tell our taxpayers that those who are doing this illegal activity: let's stop this because this time, we are serious, we will focus on you, we will arrest you and we will sue you to stop this.)