SC orders Pacquiao, Jinkee to answer BIR plea on P2-B tax case

MANILA, Philippines - The Supreme Court (SC) has ordered world boxing champion and Sarangani Rep. Manny Pacquiao and his wife Jinkee to answer the bid of the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) to lift the relief it granted to the couple in their P2.2-billion tax evasion case.

In a resolution released last week, the third division of the high court directed the Pacquiaos to comment on the motion of the BIR to lift the temporary restraining order (TRO) stopping a Court of Tax Appeals (CTA) order last July requiring the couple to post a cash bond of P3,298,514.894.35 or surety bond worth P4,947,772,341.53.

The SC gave them 10 days from receipt of notice to comply with the order.

The SC issued the TRO last August.

The same order also extended the earlier TRO issued by the CTA enjoining the BIR from “issuing, executing, enforcing, implementing or otherwise giving effect to any warrant of distraint and/or warrants of garnishment and notice of tax lien, and from attempting to collect any tax on the basis of the deficiency income tax and VAT assessments against petitioners for the years 2008 and 2009, as well as any increments thereon.”

The high court also directed the CTA to resolve the case with deliberate dispatch.

The order was effective immediately for an indefinite period or until further orders from the high court.

In their 75-page petition filed last July, the Pacquiao couple asked the high court to issue a TRO enjoining the BIR from collecting from them the total deficiency of P3,298,514.894.35

Petitioners asked the SC to also stop the implementation of a CTA order last July 11 requiring them to post a cash bond in the same amount or a surety bond worth P4,947,772,341.53.

The couple wanted a much lower amount of bond for their petition in the CTA questioning the BIR tax assessment.

Through lawyers from the Romulo, Mabanta, Buenaventura, Sayoc & De los Angeles law offices, they told the SC that the amount set by the CTA was “effectively an impossible condition given that their undisputed net worth is only P1,185,984,697.”

They said the CTA committed “grave abuse of discretion amounting to lack or excess of jurisdiction” in setting the bond amounts and requiring them to post the same within 30 days from receipt of resolution.

The Pacquiao couple alleged that the BIR, on the other hand, also committed the same offense and even violated their constitutional right to due process “in presuming the correctness of a fraud assessment without evidentiary support other than the issuance of the fraud assessments themselves.”

They said the tax agency “commenced tax collection process against Jinkee without issuing or serving a notice against her” and that it also “failed to comply with the procedural due process requirements for summary tax collection remedies under Sections 207 (A) and (B) of the Tax Code” when it commenced summary collection remedies before the expiration of the period for petitioners to pay the assessed deficiency taxes.

Petitioners also accused BIR Commissioner Kim Henares of violating the procedural due process requirements for summary tax collection remedies under Sections 208 of the Tax Code when she failed to serve petitioners with warrants of garnishment against their bank accounts.

They also questioned why the BIR, allegedly without authority from Henares, increased the aggregate amount of deficiency income tax and value-added tax assessed against petitioners from P2,261,217,439.92 to P3,298,514.894.35 after they filed the petition before the CTA in August last year.

Lastly, the Pacquiao couple insisted that they had paid the deficiency VAT assessments of the BIR for his fights in the US.

In 2013, Pacquiao filed a petition with the CTA to lift the warrant of distraint and levy and garnishment as well as the collection of taxes by the BIR. But the tax court ordered Pacquiao and his wife to deposit a cash or surety bond for the court to resolve the petition.

Good rating

Meanwhile, Vice President Jejomar Binay is glad over the good rating that Pacquiao garnered in the recent Pulse Asia survey.

“Yes, that’s good news. His ratings went up in Pulse Asia’s latest survey,” Binay said.

Pacquiao is one of those being considered for recruitment by the United Nationalist Alliance (UNA) for its senatorial slate in the 2016 presidential elections.

Pacquiao personally welcomed Binay yesterday during the latter’s visit to his hometown of General Santos City. – With Jose Rodel Clapano