The Bureau of Internal Revenue filed on Wednesday before the Department of Justice criminal charges against the identified buyers or clients and accounting firms involved in the fake or ghost receipts syndicate.
BIR Commissioner Romeo Lumagui Jr. said in a statement the agency computed P17.9 billion in total tax liability against the erring taxpayers for the use of fake receipts issued by the syndicate.
The syndicate registers ghost companies whose sole business purpose is to sell original receipts so their buyers could illegally reduce their tax liabilities.
“The BIR has filed criminal cases against buyers of fake/ghost receipts, their corporate officers, the accounting firms they engaged, and the CPAs that signed their documents. A total tax liability of P17.9 billion has been computed for this first set of cases,” Lumagui said.
“This is tax evasion of the highest order, and perhaps the most elaborate tax evasion scheme in the history of Philippine taxation. We will regularly file criminal cases against buyers of fake/ghost receipts,” he said.