Henares: BIR firm on pursuing Pacquiao over alleged unpaid tax

Philippine boxing hero Manny Pacquiao shows a copy of 2008 and 2009 tax returns filed with the IRS in the US, during a meeting with journalists in General Santos City, on the southern island of Mindanao on November 27, 2013. Philippines authorities demanded on November 27, that Pacquiao pay a 50 million USD tax bill or risk having assets seized, but the national hero vowed to take the fight to court. AFP FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines – Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) Commissioner Kim Henares on Thursday said it is not their job to get congressman and boxing icon Manny Pacquiao’s tax payment documents from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) of the United States.

“Alam nyo ang batas ng Pilipinas ginawa yan para i-apply sa lahat…Yung batas na iyan walang sinasabi na kung mayaman ka ito ang gagawin nyo. Kung mahirap yun ito ang gagawin nyo, kung sikat ka ito ang gagawin mo,” Henares said in reaction to Top Rank chief Bob Arum’s comment that the BIR should get the necessary documents from the IRS.

(The country’s laws were made to apply to all…That law does not distinguish between the rich and the poor, the famous and the ordinary, Henares said in reaction to Top Rank chief Bob Arum’s comment that the BIR should get the necessary documents from the IRS.)

“I work for the government. I don’t work for Manny Pacquiao,” she said in a separate interview with Inquirer Radio 990AM.

The BIR chief said they are merely implementing the law after announcing that Pacquiao’s tax liability has reached P2.2 billion for failing to submit the said documents.

Henares maintained that they have yet to receive such documents, which Pacquiao’s camp has supposedly been showing to media. The boxing champion claimed it was a copy of his 2009 income tax payment to the IRS.

“The documents he supposedly holds now…what is its use if he does not submit it to us? I don’t even know what kind of document that is,” she said.

Henares pointed out that they waited for at least two years for Pacquiao to submit the IRS documents.

“We gave them all the chances but we can’t wait forever,” she added.

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