Ever Bilena tax liability pegged at P1.6 billion

MANILA, Philippines — The alleged tax deficiency of popular cosmetic brand Ever Bilena has ballooned to P1.6 billion, according to the Bureau of Internal Revenue.

The BIR adjusted its initial figure of only P9.3 million that it used just a day earlier as basis for filing a criminal complaint against the firm.

BIR commissioner Romeo Lumagui said the bigger tax deficiency figure emerged after an investigation by the bureau’s Run After Fake Transactions (RAFT) task force revealed the company’s use of ghost receipts.

“We will prioritize big companies that use syndicates as a means of evading their taxes. This company has P1.6 billion in total tax liability,” Lumagui said.

“This year, we are continuously filing criminal cases against these perpetrators and we will not cease in our all-out-war against the syndicate until we totally eradicate this tax-evasion scheme,” he said.

BIR said Ever Bilena violated several sections of the Tax Code, including failure to supply correct and accurate information in the income tax return and value added tax returns. The firm is also being accused of perjury, tax evasion and making false records or reports.

According to the BIR, Ever Bilena made it appear that it had millions of purchases for years.

However, the revenue agency said there were no such transactions and its purchases were based on non-existent goods and services from a ghost company.

The BIR earlier estimated that the government is losing at least P370 billion in revenues from the proliferation of fake transactions through the use of ghost receipts by various businesses in the country.