Pacquiao staggered by BIR tax punch
By Aquiles Z. Zonio, Michelle V. Remo
Inquirer Mindanao, Philippine Daily Inquirer
Wednesday, November 27th, 2013
GENERAL SANTOS CITY, Philippines—One of the world’s richest athletes, boxing icon Manny Pacquiao, is fighting out of the ring with the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) over a P2.2-billion tax delinquency case.
“My lawyers will eventually settle that issue with the BIR,” said Pacquiao, who returned on Monday to a hero’s welcome in his hometown directly from Macau after his masterful conquest of Mexican-American Brandon Rios in a welterweight bout.
The BIR issued a warrant of “distraint” early this year against the bank accounts of the eight-division boxing champion after it said he failed to remit taxes amounting to P2.2 billion to the government on his earnings from top-billed prizefights in the United States in 2008 and 2009.
Under the National Internal Revenue Code, the issuance of the warrant is allowed as a civil remedy to collect taxes from delinquency.
The amount being demanded by the BIR is much bigger than the P1.8 billion in total assets and net worth declared by Pacquiao, who is also Sarangani representative, in his statement of assets, liabilities and net worth (SALN).
Court case
Pacquiao did not pay the amount or protested the BIR assessment, but instead filed a case in the Court of Tax Appeals (CTA) in Quezon City to nullify the warrant.
Last week, the CTA issued a “status quo ante” order restraining both parties from engaging in any action against each other pending a review of the case. It will issue a ruling on Dec. 5.
In a press conference late Tuesday afternoon, however, Pacquiao unleashed punches against the BIR, insisting that his conscience is clear and that all his tax liabilities with the government were properly paid. He appealed to the agency to lift the warrant.
“There are many crooks in the government whose bank accounts and properties were not subjected to garnishment,” he said in Filipino. “I had absorbed many blows just to earn money and give pride to the nation, but this is what happened.”
Read more: Inquirer.Net
Pacquiao floored in tax fight; "Harassment" he says.
From Sports.Yahoo!
Manila (AFP) - Philippine boxing hero Manny Pacquiao said Tuesday authorities had frozen all his domestic bank accounts over allegations of unpaid taxes from lucrative fights in the United States, leaving him financially paralysed.
The shock announcement came just two days after Pacquiao, 34, resurrected his boxing career with a unanimous points decision over American Brandon Rios in Macau."This is harassment," the former eight-division world champion said in an interview on ABS-CBN television, as he disclosed for the first time a freeze order issued by the Philippines' Bureau of Internal Revenue in recent months.
The victory, which Pacquiao dedicated to the victims of Super Typhoon Haiyan that claimed thousands of lives in the Philippines this month, added to his lustre among millions of ordinary Filipinos.
