UpdateMANILA — The Bureau of Internal Revenue filed before the Department of Justice, on Wednesday, a P9.5-billion tax evasion case against homegrown cigarette manufacturer Mighty Corp. for allegedly using fake tax stamps to deprive the government of excise tax payments. Since late 2014, the BIR has been implementing the Internal Revenue Stamps Integrated System on tobacco products. Internal Revenue Commissioner Caesar R. Dulay had said that the proliferation of counterfeit cigarette tax stamps “definitely impact” on the collection of excise taxes. Preliminary BIR data showed that total excise tax collections last year rose to P163.5 billion from P158.3 billion in 2015. In January, the Inquirer first reported that the BIR was investigating Mighty as its products had been found bearing fake cigarette tax stamps.

Source: Philippine Daily Inquirer March 22, 2017 02:38 UTC