The Bureau of Internal Revenue’s main office in Quezon City. (File photo from Philippine Daily Inquirer)
MANILA, Philippines — The Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) is warning businesses against using “altered” point-of-sale (POS) machines or cash registers.
After closing 103 establishments and shopping centers nationwide, the agency released the notice after they were found using sales suppression machines on their POS devices.
BIR Commissioner Romeo Lumagui Jr. explained that sales suppression machines manipulate the actual sales of a business, resulting in lower tax payments to the government.
“The sales suppression machines or the software that is called Altered means that, it’s automatic that when a sale comes in it doesn’t reflect the real sale; sometimes erasing sales or changing computations to lower sales and ultimately, lower taxes paid.,” he said in Filipino in a video posted on his Facebook account.
According to the BIR head, the government lost almost P1 billion in unpaid taxes from the closed 103 establishments and shopping centers nationwide due to their manipulated POS machines.
He explained that businesses caught tampering with cash registers would be temporarily barred from operating as they would also be ordered to pay corresponding fines and settle unpaid taxes to resume operations.
But, Lumagui stressed, this does not mean they are off the hook.
The BIR said POS machines and any corresponding software should be registered with the agency to avoid committing violations.
“Let’s make sure we’re not using sales suppression machines because we’re monitoring it and we’re making sure we’re focused on it and we’ll catch if you’re doing something foolish with your POS machines,” Lumagui said in Filipino.
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