THE Bureau of Internal Revenue’s (BIR) Run After Fake Transactions, or ‘Raft,’ program buttressed the agency’s collections, netting P7.01 billion as of September while combating fraudulent transactions and improving tax compliance.
Briefing lawmakers last Tuesday, Internal Revenue Commissioner Romeo D. Lumagui Jr. said that for the first nine months, the BIR has filed with the Department of Justice (DOJ) a total of 46 cases, or an average of five cases a month. Six of the total cases were against fake receipt sellers while 40 cases were against fake receipt buyers, Lumagui told members of the House Committee on Ways and Means.
He explained that the BIR’s fraud detection model are currently enhanced and modified by interns from the Math Department of the Ateneo de Manila University (ADMU). The tax collector’s partnership with the ADMU, which began in April last year, involved work on a proprietary system to systematically discover sellers and buyers of ghost receipts.
Lumagui said BIR personnel and ADMU interns use advanced mathematical models. He explained that the system is continuously fed with data from the BIR and the Securities and Exchange Commission to see if the previous ghost corporations using ghost receipts have the same characteristics as existing corporations using their income, reportorial data and financial statements.
Meanwhile, asked how the BIR manages to nearly meet its revenue targets despite an underperforming economy, Lumagui pointed to the bureau’s ‘aggressive’ stance on illicit trade, the ‘Raft’ program and the ‘Run After Tax Evaders, or ‘Rate,’ program.
‘We are able to see an increase in collections of value-added tax (VAT) since we started the ‘Raft’ program,’ he added. ‘I’ve talked to a lot of business groups and they stopped using these ‘ghost receipts’ ever since we launched that program. And we’ve seen a successful implementation in the sense that we’ve seen a drastic increase in our VAT collections.’
Meanwhile, under the BIR’s ‘Rate’ program, the number of cases filed before the DOJ from January to October this year has hit 415, with tax liabilities estimated at P26.65 billion. During the same period, the BIR filed 22 cases before the Court of Tax Appeals, with total estimated liabilities of P9.15 billion.
On October 8, seven criminal cases were filed against Pacifico and Cezarah Discaya, as well as a corporate officer of Saint Gerrard Construction Gen. Contractor and Development Corp., covering a combined tax liability of P7.18 billion.
The BIR also reportedly filed on November 6 criminal cases involving total tax liabilities of P1.68 billion against former officials of the Department of Public Works and Highways, namely, Brice Ericson D. Hernandez, Henry C. Alcantara and Jaypee D. Mendoza.
Meanwhile, under the BIR’s ‘Rate’ program, the number of cases filed before the DOJ from January to October this year has hit 415, with tax liabilities estimated at P26.65 billion. During the same period, the BIR filed 22 cases before the Court of Tax Appeals, with total estimated liabilities of P9.15 billion.
On October 8, seven criminal cases were filed against Pacifico and Cezarah Discaya, as well as a corporate officer of Saint Gerrard Construction Gen. Contractor and Development Corp., covering a combined tax liability of P7.18 billion.
The BIR also reportedly filed on November 6 criminal cases involving total tax liabilities of P1.68 billion against former officials of the Department of Public Works and Highways, namely, Brice Ericson D. Hernandez, Henry C. Alcantara and Jaypee D. Mendoza.
As of end-September this year, the BIR has collected P2.322 trillion, which is 10.88-percent higher than the P2.094 trillion collected in the same period last year. However, this was short of 2.55 percent or P60.666 billion from the BIR’s collection goal of P2.383 trillion during the nine-month period.
The BIR’s full-year revenue collection target is set at P3.219 trillion by the Development Budget Coordination Committee.