Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) Commissioner Romeo Lumagui Jr. reported another win in his war against ghost receipts.
Ghost receipts are receipts that contain fictitious transactions, which are then bought and used by businesses to evade proper payment of taxes.
Lumagui said the Department of Justice found probable cause for the filing of two cases against certain corporations and corporate officers for alleged violation of Sections 254, 255, 267 in relation 253 (d) and 256 of the National Internal Revenue Code (NIRC).
The cases were filed before the Regional Trial Court and the Metropolitan Trial Court. Warrants of arrest will be issued against the responsible corporate officers, the BIR said.
“The BIR wins another set of criminal cases involving ghost receipts. Twenty-six criminal informations were filed before the courts. Warrants of arrest will be issued against the responsible corporate officers. They will be arrested. The BIR is grateful to this favorable ruling of the DOJ, our ally in this war against ghost receipts,” Lumagui said.
He said 26 criminal informations were filed before the courts against these corporations and corporate officers under the Run After Fake Transactions (RAFT) program of the BIR.
Lumagui created the RAFT program to end the selling and use of ghost receipts in the country.
The war against ghost receipts started after a December 2022 raid of the syndicate that sells these receipts to opportunistic businesses. The RAFT program was then created to audit and file criminal cases against the buyers and users of such receipts. Criminal cases were also filed against the sellers of such receipts.
The BIR worked with Ateneo de Manila University – Department of Mathematics in August 2024 to develop an algorithm that will detect companies possibly using such receipts.
The RAFT program will be a continuing and relentless project of the BIR because it is the only weapon that addresses the decades-old proliferation of Ghost Receipts in the country, said Lumagui.
