Manila, Philippines – Sarangani Rep. Manny Pacquiao has paid the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) P32 million in Value-Added Tax (VAT), a separate deficiency tax assessment from the alleged P2.2-billion income tax debt.
This was disclosed yesterday by the boxing icon’s lawyer Jayson Fernandez before the Court of Tax Appeals (CTA) when it resumed the deliberation on the petition of the solon to nullify the Warrant of Destraint and Levy (WDL) issued by the BIR freezing his bank deposits.
Fernandez stressed that the VAT payment was separate from the P2.2-billion deficiency income tax assessment reportedly due from his cash prizes received from four boxing bouts in the United States.
Pacquiao said earlier he was willing to pay the additional P32-million VAT assessment, but not the P2.2-billion tax liabilities which included interests and surcharges.
Records showed the payment was in addition to the P12 million he remitted earlier.
The VAT payment covered his P114-million income received from endorsing 14 products, including Ginebra San Miguel, United Laboratories, and Phoenix Petroleum for 2008 and 2009.
Revenue Officer Cynthia Catolico testified during the hearing that the BIR management might issue another set of WDL to include Pacquiao’s real estate and other assets.
In answering the hypothetical question asked by Fernandez, Catolico said the next logical move for the bureau if the tax court drops Pacquiao’s petition would be to seize his other assets, including luxury cars and houses, and convert them into revenues by selling them.
The BIR presented three revenue officers who claimed they were the ones who delivered the Final Decision on Disputed Assessment (FDDA) to various addresses of Pacquiao, including the House of Representatives.
But Fernandez got confession from the witnesses that the demand letter was not personally received by Pacquiao himself but only his staff which according to him was a violation of existing rules and
regulations of the bureau.
The next hearing will be on January 28 with the BIR presenting two more witnesses. (Jun Ramirez)