on POGO taxation in nexb crackdown phase AS PART of an overall governmenl bid to The committee, however, willfocus the risk." he said "This is in a way of better track Philippine olfshore gaming immediately on taxing the indushy leqitimizinq POGO credtion - not iust qrant of PAGCoR (Phil- operators (P0G0), the House of Repre- more effectively. th; of franchise CoIp ) sentatives Ways and Means committee "The difficulty with P0G0s, urdrg ippine Amusement and Gaming is drafting a billthat aims to make it ur4 kdrdm,,;tan n9 (first of all, most lust like vape, nung frnax nattn nagtng easierto collect taxesfrom the sector of the) fu nds tra nsfer are essentially legitimate sl/a (it became legitimate "... [T]he House Ways dnd l4eans through digital, so it is difficult to moni- when we taxed it)." The Finance department has led an committee has been studying the P0G0 tor their revenues," said !lr. Salceda. situation... given thesystemic risk it "Sa coDorate income tax, sa busi- eflort toform an interagency database pases t0 the Philippine economy, in par- ness taxes, they areonly payinq P300 oi POGO foreign workers, based on Labor ticular t0 the realproperty sectorand the mlllion.So kasi ang hkap hhap niyan information from Department 0f l-monilol pero madali i-monitor yung and Employment, Department of banking sector..." Albay 2'd District Rep. .Justice, Bureau of lmmigration, Depart- Jose !1a. ClementeS. Salceda, committee seats (it is really difficultto monitor, chairman, told repofiers on 14onday. POGO, Syto ment of Foreign Atfairs, Professional Requlatton C0mmission the Nationdl lntelliqence co0rdinating Agencyand the BIR, among others PoGos must also now Present BIR be registration if their licenses are to renewed bY PAGCoR POGO, As of mid-August' PAGCoR said it fron 51/ I had qiven licenses t0 58 P0G0s employ- inq about 138'000 foreigners, with three using the cunentscheme, how much tax that more outfits awaiting approval at they pay, but it willbe oasierto monitor regulator capped the totalat time.The taxation if based on seats)." imposed a moratorium 61 and has since ' Hence, Mr. Salceda said, the bill on new aPPlitants could impose a "plesumptive corponte ln Pressing POGOS to withhold Per income tax" of$i,000 Per seat, adding sonal income taxes' especially of thelr that the Bureau of lnternal Revenue toreign workers' and lemit such collec- (BlR) could colled about P76 billion a the ti0n5 promptly to the government' year from P0G0 taxes. from the BIR collected some P14 billion The government colleded about more than double sector as 0f August, P289 milli0n infranchise feesfrom the the P579 rnillion last year and the P175 sector last year, !1t Salceda noted, but million ln 20'17 its revenues totalled an estimated $20 The Firance department had esti- billion. P24 mated thatthe government loses Mr. salceda also said he has asked personal billion annually in foregone the Bangko Sentralng Pilipinas (BSP) income taxes for every 100,000 unregis- and the Philippine Statistics Authoritv tered P0G0 workers. (PSA) to include P0G0 sales underser- made The government late lastweek vice expods in order to help monitor the ofthe first "tax-dodging an example sector "lformally asked the BSP g0v- POGO" to fallunder this campaign' ernor (Benjamin E. Diokno) to include it shuttelinq the Great Empire Gaming asa separate item in the BoP (balance in subic and Amusement corp's oftices 0f payments) account under service ex- in CentralLuzon, in ouezon Freeport ports. Sa NEDA (National Economic and city and jn Aseana city in Paranaque Development Authoity), dun sa PSA, I citv after tinding out that the company requested (Nati0nal Statistician) Dennis tax was not registered for value added (S.) l4apa, on ihe AIS - which is the The BIR said the comPany has around supply side: agliculture, industry' and, 8100 f0feiqn workers in ins Eastwood services to have a separate line under - facililY and 'a lew hundred more in servicesfor P0G0s. So we can control Ferens Pannaque and Subicl' - V' A' C'