Manila, May 7 -- The Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) on Thursday filed a criminal complaint before the Department of Justice (DOJ) against a local firm and its corporate officers for the misuse of value-added tax (VAT) exemption privileges on palm olein oil importations, resulting in more than PHP262 million in outstanding tax liabilities.

The BIR officials filed a complaint against Lobelle Commodities Corporation for transactions involving its importation of palm olein oil during the 3rd and 4th quarters of the taxable year 2020.

The company failed to pay the VAT due on the importations despite not meeting the legal conditions for exemption, in violation of Section 254, in relation to Sections 253(d) and 256 of the National Internal R...