Taxes collected from Pogos rise to ₧7.18B in ’20, up 11%

TAXES collected from Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (Pogos) by Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) even rose to P7.18 billion last year amid the impact of lockdown measures to contain the Covid-19 pandemic.

This was up by 11.71 percent compared to P6.42 billion in 2019.

In a statement last Tuesday, the BIR disclosed that its collections from Pogos continued to increase every year since 2018.

The BIR said in a statement its collections from Pogos continued to increase from P2.36 billion in 2018. It grew by 172.43 percent in 2019 and by 11.71 percent in 2020, the statement added.

In May last year, the government allowed some Pogos to operate while several parts of the country remain under strict lockdown. POGOS deemed not tax-compliant were prohibited from resuming operations.

Executives behind Pogos have insisted they are not liable to pay the 5-percent franchise tax since they are an offshore business. They gained a solid footing from a temporary restraining order (TRO) issued by the Supreme Court early this month.

The TRO effectively stopped the government from imposing the 5-percent franchise tax on the gross bets from gaming operations of Pogos as mandated under Republic Act 11494.

Meanwhile, the BIR also said last Tuesday that its tax-amnesty program yielded P5.63 billion in revenues last year through collecting tax delinquencies and estate taxes.

For 2020, the BIR’S revenue take reached P1.94 trillion, breaching its downgraded goal of P1.69 trillion by 14.79 percent.

The revised goal was a 34.4-percent cut from the original target set for BIR at P2.576 trillion prior to the pandemic.

Apart from the collections from Pogos and the tax amnesty program, the BIR’S other tax enforcement initiatives also contributed to its overall collection last year. These include the issuance of warrants of distraint and levy, warrants of garnishments and the implementation of compromise settlement that caused the collection of accounts receivable and/or delinquent accounts amounting to P998.96 million.

The bureau also collected P607.87 million last year following the “vigorous” implementation of the “Run After Tax Evaders,” or Rate program.

“The Rate program have been proven effective because the taxpayers feel that there is no ‘let-up’ in filing of cases against them [erring taxpayers]. We were able to collect about P607 million,” BIR Commissioner Caesar R. Dulay said. “That’s why we get a lot of complaints from taxpayers also about these programs. But we advised our people to just be polite and respectful but firm when they implement [the program].”

For this year, the BIR is targeting to collect a total of P2.081 trillion, up by 23.14 percent from its P1.69 trillion revised goal in 2020.