The Court of Tax Appeals (CTA) has ordered the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) to lift the seizure warrants it issued against the bank deposits and real estate properties of boxing icon and Senator Manny Pacquiao and wife Jinkee pending the resolution of the case.
In a promulgation posted on the tax court’s website last July 27, the BIR was also instructed to erase notices of the tax liens annotated on the title of the couples’ properties.
The CTA ruled the BIR shall “cease and desist from implementing the subject Final Decision on Disputed Assessment (FDDA) and from collecting the subject deficiency tax assessment issued against the petitioners (Pacquiao) for taxable years 2008 and 2009.”
It was then BIR Commissioner Kim S. Jacinto-Henares who slapped the solon with R2.2 billion in deficiency income tax due to alleged non-reporting of his prize winnings from title fights in the United States for the years 2008 and 2009.
The alleged tax indebtedness later ballooned to more than R3.2 billion due to interests and surcharges.
Specifically, the BIR sought to get the original receipts of the withholding tax on his prize winnings remitted to the United States’ Internal Revenue Service (IRS). (JR)
