PBA players to meet BIR on how to pay taxes

You can't dunk on the tax man.

That's what the BIR is telling PBA players as it prepares to brief the nation's tallest group of tax payers on how to file their income taxes.

In the wake of the highly publicized tax evasion cases filed against PBA stars Jimmy Alapag and Jared Dillinger, the PBA approached the BIR and promised to urge its players, who supposedly earn an average of P3 million a year, to pay the correct taxes.

In return, the BIR will conduct a briefing on income tax filing for the PBA on Monday, April 8, a week before the April 15 tax filing deadline.

"We're expecting all the PBA players to attend [the briefing]," says BIR deputy commissioner Nelson Aspe, who will be one of the lecturers at the BIR training center on Monday.

According to Aspe, the players' teams withhold 15 percent of their salaries, as mandated by the government. However, because these players are in high-income brackets, they may actually owe the government much more than 15 percent.

Alapag and Dillinger were reported to owe the government P17.86 million and P13.37 million respectively in back taxes.

After their cases came to light, PBA commissioner Chito Salud met with the BIR and committed his players to file their correct income taxes, which could be as high as one third for the millionaire professionals.

"That's not even including their endorsement earnings," Aspe added.

"We want our players to be model citizens in so far as paying what is due to the government. This is PBA’s way of contributing to nation-building," Salud has said.

The crackdown on elite PBA players is part of the BIR's strategy of targeting "high-profile role models," according to Aspe, to persuade the general public to file their proper taxes.

Manny Pacquiao has also been embroiled in tax evasion cases. Aspe also cites doctors as a profession known for non-payment or under payment of income taxes. Like the PBA, the Philippine Medical Association has been coordinating with the BIR on informing its doctor-members on proper income tax filing. - Howie Severino/AMD, GMA News