The Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) on Saturday, February 3, filed a criminal charge against cosmetics company Ever Bilena over its alleged “fake transactions” reaching P1.6 billion in tax liabilities.

BIR Commissioner Romeo Lumagui Jr. said its agency’s Run After Fake Transactions (RAFT) task force reported that Ever Bilena used ghost receipts from ghost companies.

Ghost companies tend to be used for illicit activities which often get flagged for tax evasion.

“Sinampa po natin ito laban sa isang kilalang cosmetics company, ang Ever Bilena Cosmetics, Inc. na nahuling gumagamit ng ghost receipts mula sa mga ghost companies,” Lumagui said in a Facebook post.

“Ayon sa imbestigasyon ng task force, mayroong higit kumulang na P1.6B na tax [liabilities] ang kumpanyang ito [...] The RAFT taskforce will prioritize big fishes, big companies that use syndicates as a means of evading their taxes,” he added.

He added that the popular cosmetics brand violated tax evasion, failure to supply correct and accurate information in the income tax return and value-added tax (VAT) returns, and making false records or reports under the National Internal Revenue Code of 1997, as amended.

“This year, we are continuously filing criminal cases against these perpetrators and we will not cease in our all-out-war against the syndicate until we totally eradicate this tax-evasion scheme,” the BIR Commissioner said.