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By APD writer Melo M. Acuña
**MANILA, Sept. 15 (APD) ** – Finance Secretary Carlos G. Dominguez III ordered the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BOR) to close the operations of Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGOs) and their service providers that fail or refuse to settle tax liabilities of their foreign workers and prepare the appropriate charges against these firms.
In a statement sent via electronic mail today, Domiguez issued the order after learning from the BIR during a recent Department of Finance (DOF) Executive Committee (EXECOM) regarding the slow pace of collections of withholding income taxes from POGOs despite the issuance of 130 letter-notices to these firms with tax liabilities reaching P21.62 billion combines.
He said he has told the members of an inter-agency task force monitoring the entry of foreign workers in the country last September 13.
“Why don’t we start closing them (down) so they will answer these assessments,” Dominguez said during the meeting. He added those who don’t pay or respond to assessments will have to be closed.
Internal Revenue Deputy Commissioner Arnel Guballa said the BIR cannot do the job of padlocking errant POGOs alone and asked the assistance of the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE), the Bureau of Immigration (BI) and the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR) in closing the tax-deficient POGOs and their respective service providers.
Mr. Guballa said POGO service providers paid P175 million in withholding taxes in 2017, P579 million in 2018 and from January to August 2019, BIR collected P1.4 billion from POGOs. The collected represented a 242 percent increase from the previous year’s collections.
Earlier reports disclosed there are already 58 POGOs in the Philippines and PAGCOR has not acted on three more applications recently. PAGCOR has not disclosed who among Filipino and foreign businessmen own these outfits. The Department of Finance statement did not disclose how many of the 58 POGOs in the country have refused to adhere to BIR-issued assessments.
Thousands of mainland Chinese have been lured to work in POGOs in different parts of the county. It will be recalled the Chinese Embassy in Manila has called on Philippine government authorities to protect their nationals from criminal elements that victimize POGO employees.
(ASIA PACIFIC DAILY)
