Pacquiao owes US tax agency $18-million – report

By ABS-CBNnews.com

Dec. 11, 2013

MANILA, Philippines (UPDATE) – The United States’ Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is reportedly running after boxing champ Manny Pacquiao for failing to pay more than $18 million in income taxes, according to celebrity website TMZ.

TMZ said it has gotten official documents showing that the US tax agency claims Pacquiao didn’t pay $18.31 million in federal income taxes from 2006 to 2010.

TMZ said the breakdown of Pacquiao’s tax deficiency according to the IRS is as follows:

2006 — $1,160,324.30
2007 — $2,035,992.50
2008 — $2,862,437.11
2009 — $8,022,915.87
2010 — $4,231,999.01

Pacquiao’s tax problems with the IRS come just weeks after his own fight with the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) in the Philippines over unpaid taxes.

However, Pacquiao’s lawyer Tranquil Salvador denied the report.

“We have no knowledge of the so-called IRS tax deficiency,” he said. “We likewise stand by the order that we will not discuss the BIR case.”

‘Lousy bookkeeping’

However, BIR chief Kim Henares said the bureau has not received any confirmation from the IRS regarding a tax case against Pacquiao.

“Ang analysis ko doon ay maaring it came out of the other rumor that he’s a green card holder. Kasi if you’re a green card holder, if you’re a non-resident, you only pay for your US income. But if you’re a resident in US, pati ang income mo sa Pilipinas, kailangan i-report din. I believe that’s where it’s coming from. Whether it’s true or not, only the IRS can say that,” Henares said on DZMM’s Rated Korina.

Pacquiao on Tuesday denied he had a green card or a permanent resident status in the United States.
Henares noted that Pacquiao’s tax woes stem from “lousy bookkeeping.”

“Mga contrata at documentation nila hindi ayos. Yun ang nagiging problema. Kung nagiging problema nila sa Pilipinas ay ganun din magiging problema nila sa America (Their contracts and documents are not in order. That’s the problem. If they had that problem in the Philippines, then they will also have the same problem in America) … What I can foresee is if their bookkeeping is as bad as what we see here, magkakaproblema ho talaga siya (he will really have a problem),” she said.

The BIR has alleged Pacquiao’s tax delinquencies amounted to P2.2 billion ($50.3 US million), on prize earnings from top-billed matches in 2008 and 2009.

However, Pacquiao has insisted he has paid his taxes in the US properly. Boxing promotion company Top Rank Inc. has already mailed certified true copies of Pacquiao’s tax returns in the US to his lawyers in the Philippines, its CEO Bob Arum said.

– With report from RG Cruz, ABS-CBN News