FILE PHOTO: People wear face masks and face shields which the Philippine government strictly required as COVID-19 raged since 2020. INQUIRER/Niño Jesus Orbeta
MANILA, Philippines — The controversial Pharmally Pharmaceutical Corp. has a P6.3 billion standing tax deficiency to the government, a tax expert said Thursday.
“Base po sa mga dokumento na na-forward ng ating Senate blue ribbon committee at sa mga dokumento na hindi nabigay ng Pharmally at ng kanilang mga officers, ito po ang ating lumalabas na estimated total deficiency na maaari naman po pagtibayin ng ongoing na BIR (Bureau of Internal Revenue) audit,” Raymond Abrea, president and chief executive officer of the Asian Consulting Group, said during the Senate blue ribbon committee hearing.
(Based on the documents sent by the Senate blue ribbon committee and the documents not provided by Pharmally and its officers, this is the estimated total deficiency that could be confirmed by the ongoing BIR audit.)
“So, umabot na po sa P6.3 billion ang estimated total deficiency, kasama na po ang penalties, ang surcharge, at interest,” he added.
(So, the estimated total deficiency already reached P6.3 billion, including the penalties, surcharge, and interest.)
Abrea also noted that Pharmally has P7.3 billion unsupported purchases, P3.9 billion disallowed VATable purchases, P1.3 billion undeclared purchases, and P1.3 billion undeclared sales.
Senator Richard Gordon then asked the tax expert if tax deficiency means the amount that the company needs to pay to the BIR.
“’Pag sinabing tax deficiency, ‘yan ang kakulangan nilang dapat bayaran sa BIR? At ‘pag sinabi niyang P7.3 billion unsupported purchases, ‘yan ang mga hindi nila maipakita ‘yung dokumento kung sa’n galing ‘yung perang pinambili, tama po ba ‘yan?”
(When you say tax deficiency, that is the amount that they have to pay to BIR? And when you say P7.3 billion unsupported purchases, those are the items that they cannot show the document where the money used to purchase came from? Is that correct?)
Abrea replied in the affrimative.
The Senate blue ribbon committee said it will release its preliminary report on the Pharmally mess on January 31.
Pharmally is under scrutiny as senators wondered how a tiny company that only had a paid-up capital of P625,000 was able to bag government deals worth billions of pesos for medical supplies as the country battles a raging COVID-19 pandemic since 2020.
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