BIR chief Kim Henares to Pacman: Penalties for your tax deficiency still increasing

The longer it takes, the bigger its gets.

Three years ago, Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) Commissioner Kim Henares revealed that the agency had assessed boxing champ Manny Pacquiao’s tax deficiency at PHP3.2 billion, which included penalties, for income earned in 2008 and 2009.

Apparently that amount hasn’t been paid yet. “What he paid were taxes for succeeding years,” Henares was quoted as saying in a report by Jess Diaz in The Philippine Star.

It may be recalled that Pacquiao, now an incoming senator, had asked the Supreme Court (SC) in 2015 “to prevent the BIR and the Court of Tax Appeals (CTA) from immediately collecting taxes from him.”

Meanwhile, the penalties for Pacquiao’s still-unpaid taxes have been increasing. Henares denied that Pacquiao negotiated for a compromise settlement.

The report noted: “Pacquiao is the only billionaire member of the House of Representatives. He was worth PHP1.6 billion in 2014. He reportedly earned US$240 million from the US$600-million gross income his fight with Floyd Mayweather Jr. in May last year had generated.”