Ex-distributor of Red Bull, call center firm face tax violation raps

SCREENGRAB from www.epacificglobal.com

MANILA, Philippines—The government has sued the controversial former distributor of Red Bull energy drinks in the Philippines after the firm ignored several demands to settle its deficiencies with the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR).

Criminal charges were also filed against an Ortigas-based call center company with 1,300 employees for tax liabilities that stretch back to 2005.

The separate cases against ePacific Global Contact Center Inc. and Energy Food Drinks Inc. were the 252nd and 253rd lawsuits filed by the BIR under the current administration. This was part of its crackdown on delinquent companies and individuals through the Run After Tax Evaders (RATE) program.

Documents filed at the Department of Justice (DOJ) by BIR investigators before showed that both firms were served the corresponding Letters of Authority (LOA), Subpoena Duces Tecum (SDT), Preliminary Assessment Notices (PAN), Final Assessment Notices (FAN) and Formal Letters of Demand (FLD) with details of their respective discrepancies.

Both “failed to protest said assessments, hence making the same final, executory, unappealable, and demandable,” the BIR said in a statement Thursday.

Based on the BIR’s assessment, ePacific’s total tax liabilities for taxable year 2005 reached P153.7 million, inclusive of increments, broken down as follows: Income Tax (IT) – P68.8 million, Value Added Tax (VAT) – P52.6 million, Expanded Withholding Tax (EWT) – P24.8 million, and Fringe Benefits Tax (FBT) – P7.5 million.

Named in the suit against ePacific were its president, Rosendo Ballesteros and vice-president Alfredo Miguel Jr.

The company operates a call center with 1,300 employees at the Ortigas central business district. It specializes in outbound services and serves clients from the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia.

For its part, Energy Food Drinks tax liabilities for 2008 in the sum of P59.43 million, the BIR said. This included IT – P34.76 million, VAT – P23.57 million, and EWT – P1.10 million.

Energy Food Drinks is based in West Avenue, Quezon City. The company used to be the exclusive distributor of Thailand’s Red Bull energy drinks in the Philippines.