Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) chief Kim Jacinto- Henares reminded boxing champion Manny Pacquiao to pay his taxes. Henares said this was not meant to spoil his recent victory over Timothy Bradley.
Pacquiao reportedly has to pay BIR an estimated P2.1 billion as of December 2012. This does not yet include interests.
But a Malacañang spokesperson said on Monday that Henares was not out to “spoil” Pacquiao’s victory, and that Henares’ advice to Pacquiao was simply a reminder for him to pay his tax obligations.
“We don’t quite think that Commissioner Henares intends to be in any way disrespectful, or that her manner any way tends to lessen the honor that Manny Pacquiao has brought to the country,” Deputy Presidential Spokesperson Abigail Valte said in a press conference.
“We don’t mean to make it hard for Congressman Pacquiao.”
Valte also defended Henares saying she was “just doing her job.”
Pacquiao is also facing a similar problem with the United States’ Internal Revenue Service, which was reportedly seeking $18 million in back taxes.
The IRS has issued a levy on Pacquiao’s bank accounts in the US. This is to recover the alleged tax liabilities covering 2006 to 2010. Pacquiao had also been issued a “notice of federal tax lien” amounting to $18,313,669.
Last December, Pacquiao’s Philippine lawyer Tranquil Salvador said the “IRS liens on his properties and bank accounts” had been “vacated.” This meant that Pacquaio had already “satisfied the requirements of the US law.”
A USA Today report last April 11 raised the possibility that part of Pacquiao’s $20-million guaranteed purse for the Bradley fight might go to the IRS.
