BIR charges Philrem for tax evasion
April 20, 2016 | 11:18pm
MANILA, Philippines - The remittance company embroiled in the $81-million money laundering case was charged with tax evasion on Thursday.
The Bureau of Internal Revenue is seeking P35.61 million in taxes, surcharge and interest from Philippine Remittance Co. (Philrem) for its "willful" non-payment of gross receipts and percentage taxes from 2005 to 2014.
Also sued were its president, Salud Bautista, and treasurer, Michael Bautista. The STAR is still seeking their comment as of this post.
"The gross failure of Philrem to register, declare and pay the (gross receipt tax) showed a clear intent and purpose on its part to evade the payment of the correct amount of taxes," the BIR said in a statement.
"Further, its failure to update its registration with the BIR made it liable for unlawful pursuit of business," it added.
BIR Commissioner Kim Henares told a Senate inquiry last week she discovered that Philrem was not registered as a remittance company, but as a land transportation transaction firm.
She relayed that Philrem amended its Articles for Incorporation at the Securities and Exchange Commission in 2005 but did not update its tax records with the BIR.
"Despite the change in its primary purpose, it did not update its registration with the BIR," the statement said.
Regulators are still probing how stolen funds from the account of Bangladesh Bank in the New York Federal Reserve found their way to the Philippines.
Philrem admitted in a Senate inquiry having exchanged and remitted the entire $81 million to a branch of Rizal Commercial Bank Corp. on Jupiter Street in Makati.
Funds were later on traced to have entered local casinos where the money trail ended, according to the Anti-Money Laundering Council.
Separate probes by the AMLC, the Senate and the central bank are ongoing.
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