Former Finance Secret-ary Margarito Teves yesterday reminded the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) that it should have first secured all the necessary documents, particularly a court order, to warrant the garnishment of assets of boxing champion Sarangani Rep. Emmanuel “Manny” Pacquiao. He stressed that there is a tedious process that needs to be followed before garnishing assets of any individual, whether already charged or still being accused of dodging tax payment. “My understanding of the law is the agency garnishing any asset should first secure a court order before doing so. Assuming that the BIR has obtained the court order, then it has a legal leg to stand on. If not, the act of garnishment will likely be construed as illegal,” Teves said. He added he hopes BIR Commissioner Kim Henares is not allowing herself to be used to pin the boxing champ in the P2.2-billion tax case charged against Pacquaio years ago. “What is important is that the BIR should enforce the law and its regulations fairly and impartially and take into account substantial compliance of the taxpayer. Again, one has to go by documents and evidence,” Teves said. In the end, he added, it is still the court that has the final say whether the boxer’s assets will be garnished or not. Henares has earlier claimed that only two of the six bank accounts of Pacquiao have been frozen and the average deposit is just over P1 million each. “The lawyers of the taxpayer and BIR have the same (documents) which can be submitted to the court, in case of conflict or disagreement, for judgment,” the former Finance secretary said. Henares, for her part, advised the camp of Pacquiao to talk with the BIR to know all the problems on the garnishment order against his bank accounts. At a press conference at the Department of Justice (DoJ), the BIR said it was possible that it was not properly explained to the boxing champion the real problem about his duty to pay the right taxes for all his income and why it ended up in the garnishment of his bank accounts. Henares stressed the BIR cannot accept as evidence the documents from the United States Internal Revenue Service (IRS) presented to the media by Pacquiao because based on the Rules of Court, only the original or certified xerox copy is admissible as evidence. She added when the camp of Pacquiao presented the documents from the IRS, the assessment made by the BIR on the correct taxes that he should pay the government had already been concluded. Despite this, Henares said, they did not file a criminal case against the boxing champion, but only a civil case so that he can settle the amount of tax he should pay. For President Aquino, instead of engaging in a word war with the BIR, Pacquiao should just face the tax case filed against him even as he denied that the he was being harassed. “If he believes he complied with the laws, then he can answer to it. It had been two years,” he stressed. Aquino said the tax laws could have differences, between the US and the Philippines, that should have to be reconciled with on the matter of his payments. “So he earns abroad, he pays taxes there, their tax rate and our tax rate are different. My understanding, I am not, of course, an expert on the Internal Revenue Code, but the bottom line is the difference of the tax rate here and the tax rate there, which still has to be made up,” the President stressed. Aquino said if Pacquio had committed no error on his payment of taxes, then he would have no problems with the government. “So if he did right, then I’m sure he will be able to prove that he did right, and therefore there is no issue,” he added. Paul Atienza
Posted on: Fri, 29 Nov 2013 04:10:18 +0000
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