Fake BIR receipts uncovered in NE

CABANATUAN CITY - A multimillion-peso tax anomaly using fake receipts of the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) has been uncovered in Nueva Ecija.

Lawyer Jose Paulino, chief of the BIR Revenue District No. 23 in Nueva Ecija, said the anomaly involves the use of fake BIR Certificate Authorizing Registration (CAR) forms.

Paulino said he has brought the matter to the attention of Internal Revenue Commissioner Guillermo Parayno and Region 3 director Jose Tan.

He said the newly created anti-tax fraud police unit is now investigating the tax anomaly upon Parayno’s formal request.

Paulino said he stumbled upon the anomaly when a taxpayer sought their assistance on the purchase of a piece of land in the province.

The taxpayer presented an accomplished CAR and other supporting documents.

The CAR is a document issued by the regional office for use in the payment of donor’s tax, real estate tax, capital gains tax, final withholding tax and documentary stamp tax.

When the BIR checked the CAR in its computer files, Paulino said the document and the whole transaction could not be located.

He said they became more suspicious when they discovered that the tax payment’s validation in the bank was also forged, indicating that no payment was made when the CAR was processed.

He believes a syndicate was behind the anomaly, although he clarified that no BIR employee was involved.

"This is not an ordinary case because it involves economic sabotage," he said.

Chief Inspector Bobby Fopalan, head of the anti-tax fraud police unit, said the scam could definitely defraud the government of several millions of pesos.

"No doubt, this is a multimillion-peso scam but we cannot yet give an estimate. But we are in the process of collecting documents. We have not come to tip of the iceberg yet," he said.

Zenaida Ferrer, BIR Nueva Ecija assistant revenue district officer, said the fake CAR form is much thinner than the real one.

She said the one involved in the tax scam also used the serial number which the BIR regional office has issued to their office.