By JUN RAMIREZ
Manila, Philippines – World boxing champion Manny Pacquiao has remitted to the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) more than P160 million in income tax last year, informed sources disclosed yesterday.
They said the amount was about P138 million higher than the 2012 payment of P22 million, making him the highest individual taxpayer in General Santos City and probably in the whole of Mindanao and the Visayas.
The Saranggani congressman is a registered taxpayer of General Santos and was quoted telling the crowd attending BIR tax collection program in the city last March that “it was my biblical duty to pay taxes.”
Revenue collection officials in the national office refused to confirm, or deny the report, saying such information is confidential.
The BIR has yet to release the names of the top 1,000 individual and 1,000 corporate taxpayers for 2013.
Meanwhile, revenue officials said they are not in a hurry to asses Pacquiao on how much taxes he should pay for successfully defending one of his world titles in Macau, China last Sunday.
They said that like other individual taxpayers, the Saranggani congressman has until April 5 next year to declare his 2014 earnings and pay taxes to include income from other sources like pay-per-view, advertisement and business.
They explained that the investigation will start after the filing of returns to determine if the solon like other taxpayers declated correct income and paid the appropriate taxes.
But they said Pacquiao’s prize money will be definitely subject to the maximum 32 percent income tax bracket.
The ceiling is imposed on individuals with annual taxable income of P500,000 and more. Like other taxpayers, Pacquiao is also allowed to deduct related expenses such as transportation, salaries to coaches and trainers and taxes paid in Macau.
He can also avail of the optional standard deduction (OSD), or the itemized deduction detailing expenses.
A taxpayer is allowed to automatically deduct 40 percent of his gross income under the OSD.
Pacquiao is facing P3.9 billion tax collection suit before the Court of Tax Appeals (CTA) which he described as arbitrary and illegal.
The Supreme Court has issued a temporary restraining order stopping the CTA from imposing a cash bond of P3.2 billion, or surety bond of P4.9 billion.
The solon said the bond was excessive way above his net worth of P1.2 billion.