Pacquiao asks court to stop BIR from collecting billions from him

REP. Emmanuel “Manny” Pacquiao of Sarangani has asked the Supreme Court (SC) to rescue him from the hands of the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) over tax charges that the bureau had filed against him.

To prevent the BIR and the Court of Tax Appeals (CTA) from immediately collecting taxes from him, Pacquiao filed a memorandum before the tribunal.

The bureau had intended to collect from the world boxing icon an alleged tax deficiency of over P2.2 billion plus surcharge and interests for 2008 and 2009.

Pacquiao said the BIR and the CTA had committed grave abuse of discretion amounting to lack or excess of jurisdiction.

He pleaded with the SC to direct “[r]espondent [c]ourt to dispense with the requirement for petitioners to deposit a cash bond in the amount of P3,298,514,894.35 or to post [ a] surety bond of P4,947,772,341.53 as a condition for the suspension of collection of taxes against them for alleged deficiency income tax and VAT [value added tax] for the years 2008 and 2009; or in the alternative, require petitioners to deposit a cash bond or post surety bond corresponding to a reasonable amount after considering the attendant exceptional circumstances in thus case.”

Also, Pacquiao wanted the SC to halt “[r]espondent [c]ommissioner, her representatives, any of the BIR officers and/or employees, and any other person acting on behalf of respondent commissioner and/or the BIR, from issuing, executing, enforcing, implementing or otherwise giving effect to any warrant of distraint and/or levy, 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 issued by respondent commissioner against petitioners for the years 2008 and 2009, as well as any in- crements therein, and from doing any and all acts relative thereto until the decision or resolution resolving the issues in the main case becomes final and executory.”

Recently, the High Court issued a temporary restraining order in favor of Pacquiao and his wife, Jinkee.

Pacquiao had assailed the BIR after it “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 com- menced summary collection remedies before the expiration of the period for petitioners to pay the assessed deficiency taxes.”

According to the bureau, there is no legal basis to dispense with the posting of the bond to suspend the collection of taxes against the petitioners.

“The Supreme Court is not a trier of facts, more so in the consideration of the extraordinary writ of certiorari where neither questions of fact nor or law are entertained but only questions of lack or excess of jurisdiction or grave abuse of discretion,” it said.