{"id":15476,"date":"2021-03-04T16:14:12","date_gmt":"2021-03-04T16:14:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/?p=15476"},"modified":"2026-04-23T21:21:53","modified_gmt":"2026-04-24T00:21:53","slug":"pogos-could-be-suspended-over-failure-to-file-tax-returns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/pogos-could-be-suspended-over-failure-to-file-tax-returns","title":{"rendered":"POGOs could be suspended over failure to file tax returns"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The suggestion was made by the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR).<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

The Philippines.- BIR Deputy Commissioner Arnel Guballa has suggested that Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGOs) that do not file income tax returns or who under-declare their sales <\/strong>should be suspended or temporarily closed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During a Senate session, Guballa suggested the National Internal Revenue Code (NIRC) should include the failure to file an income tax return and substantial under-declaration of revenues as “additional grounds to suspend and temporarily close the business<\/strong> establishment of any person or taxpayer, not just a VAT-registered person or taxpayer.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The House of Representatives has approved a 25 per cent income tax on aliens <\/strong>who are employed by offshore gaming licensees and 5 per cent excise tax on the gross revenue or receipts of POGOs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, POGOs argue that once their foreign employees acquire working visas<\/strong>, they should be taxed like Filipino citizens<\/strong> or resident alien employees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In February, The Philippines\u2019 lower chamber passed a bill imposing taxes on online gambling firms<\/strong><\/a><\/em> in a bid to replenish state revenues after the Covid-19 pandemic<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

POGO revenues for 2021 tax year 2021 will be lower than expected<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Based on January voluntary payments, BIR Deputy Commissioner Arnel SD. Guballa said the total projection for POGO revenues for 2021 will be P3.92bn<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pogos taxes for January 2021 decreased by 68.63 per cent<\/strong> compared to the same month last year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Guballa said: “The real reason for this drop in collection is that during the pandemic\u2026 most of the POGOs stopped operating<\/strong>, that is one major factor that\u2019s why there was a drop in collection.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The suggestion was made by the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":176,"featured_media":15478,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"is_press_release":false,"is_interview":false,"is_opinion":false,"focusai_summary":"The Philippine Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) has proposed suspending or temporarily closing Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGOs) that fail to file income tax returns or substantially under-declare revenues. This comes amidst legislative efforts to impose new taxes, including a 25% income tax on foreign POGO employees and a 5% excise tax on gross revenue, while POGO tax collections for 2021 have significantly decreased due to the pandemic.","focusai_entities":"Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR), Arnel Guballa, Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGOs), House of Representatives","focusai_location":"Philippines","focusai_target_profile":"ceo_executive (0.9), regulator (1.0), compliance_legal (0.95), operator_casino (0.9), investor_analyst (0.9), supplier_vendor (0.7), journalist_researcher (0.95)","focusai_suggestions":[{"label":"POGO Tax Compliance Impact","query":"What specific governance frameworks and compliance protocols must POGOs implement to mitigate the risk of suspension or closure under the proposed NIRC amendments for tax non-compliance?"},{"label":"POGO Revenue Projections","query":"How will the proposed 5% excise tax on POGO gross revenue and the 25% income tax on foreign employees impact the sector's net gaming revenue (NGR) and overall financial viability?"}],"footnotes":""},"categories":[156,16333],"tags":[23911,15789],"class_list":["post-15476","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-regulation-news","category-south-east-asia-news","tag-gambling-regulation","tag-pogos"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15476","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/176"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15476"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15476\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15511,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15476\/revisions\/15511"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15478"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15476"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15476"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15476"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}