The Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) is set to file criminal charges and assess the deficiency taxes against the suspects behind the printing of P544 million worth of fake cigarette tax stamps seized recently in Bacolod City.
At a recent Department of Finance Executive Committee meeting, BIR Deputy Commissioner Arnel Guballa reported to Finance Secretary Carlos G. Dominguez III that the bureau seized 15 million pieces of fake internal revenue tax stamps last May 4 at a warehouse and in three trucks parked outside the premises at Barangay Tangub. Apart from this, various raw and packaging materials for cigarette production were also seized.
“The BIR office in Region 12 will file—and we coordinated with them—the necessary criminal cases and the assessment of deficiency taxes on this,” Guballa said in his report during the meeting.
Guballa also reported during the meeting that the BIR Strike Team, along with personnel from the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (Peza), that they also found a total of 3,068 cigarette mastercases of the A380 and Manchester cigarette brands inside the facility of GB Global Exprez Inc. at the Angeles Industrial Park in Pampanga.
The BIR official added the GB Global personnel on the site claimed that the cigarettes were manufactured as part of a “dry run” of its facilities.
According to Guballa, BIR ensured that the cigarettes would not be removed from the premises while the BIR undertakes the appropriate action against the company.
In April this year, BIR also padlocked 83 establishments and collected P737.28 million under its Oplan Kandado program, Guballa said.
In 2020, BIR padlocked 209 establishments for tax law violations which led to the collection of P607.87 million in taxes. It also seized 55 units of cigarette-making machines, 4.89 million packs of assorted cigarette products, and 22.39 million counterfeit tax stamps valued at P1.23 billion in 2020.
For this year, the BIR is aiming to hit its total full-year collection target of P2.081 trillion.
It collected P1.95 trillion in 2020, exceeding its downscaled revenue collection target of P1.686 trillion.
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