The Association of Service Providers and Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (ASPAP) yesterday said it will look into the tax compliance of all its members.
ASPAP issued the statement following Senator Sherwin Gatchalian’s claim that even legitimate POGOs are remiss in paying correct taxes.
ASPAP said it will review the financial submissions of its POGO members with the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (Pagcor) and the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) to determine compliance with their license fees and tax obligations.
“Our group only represents 16 POGOs — less than half of those registered with Pagcor. We’re coordinating with our member firms to check compliance as part of our self-policing initiatives,” said Paul Bongco, ASPAP spokesman.
Earlier this week, Gatchalian said legitimate POGOs have been remiss in paying correct taxes to the government as reflected in the discrepancies between their gross gaming revenues submitted to the BIR and Pagcor.
Gatchalian, chairperson of the Senate committee on ways and means, said the “tax leakage” is estimated at P1.9 billion.
He added that indicative gross gaming revenues in the first eight months of the year, based on 5 percent gaming tax payments made to the BIR by POGO operators, totaled P28.36 billion.
However, the 2 percent regulatory fee payments to Pagcor showed an indicative gross gaming revenue for the same period at P66.67 billion.
Pagcor’s account receivables from POGOs during the same period were also estimated at P2.3 billion.
“It’s regrettable that even legitimate POGOs are remiss in the payment of correct taxes. This is exactly the reason a tax regime for POGOs was put in place which is to reduce uncollected taxes due the government. It is lamentable that even licensed POGOs continue to disregard accurate payment of taxes,” Gatchalian said. – Angela Celis
