Royale Business Club members not liable for tax evasion – BIR's Henares

Members of Royale Business Club International Incorporated (Royale) are not liable for the tax evasion case the government filed against the Quezon City-based multi-level marketing group, the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) chief said late Thursday.

 

"If they are just members, and not directors, then they have nothing to worry about," BIR commissioner Kim Jacinto-Henares told GMA News Online.

 

"But if they do not pay the correct taxes as well, then that's another case," she noted.

 

Early Thursday, the BIR sued Royale in a P359-million tax evasion suit before the Department of Justice.

 

The case was a result of a BIR investigation into the company's tax remittances against its income, Henares noted.

 

"We checked their payments against their income and we saw some deficiency," she noted.

 

In the complaint, the BIR said Royale received income payments from various banks including P141.60 million from the Bank of Philippine Islands, P468.55 million from Metrobank and P171.07 million from BDO Unibank.

 

But the company only declared income tax gross sales of P39.14 million in 2011, P106.69 million in 2012 and P196.68 million in 2013, according to the bureau. – VS, GMA News