{"id":26040,"date":"2022-01-05T10:35:25","date_gmt":"2022-01-05T13:35:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/?p=26040"},"modified":"2026-04-23T12:31:22","modified_gmt":"2026-04-23T15:31:22","slug":"philippines-bir-shuts-down-pogo-operator-imperial-choice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/philippines-bir-shuts-down-pogo-operator-imperial-choice","title":{"rendered":"Philippines: BIR shuts down POGO operator Imperial Choice"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Imperial Choice Limited (Imperial) and its accredited service provider Aplus Accel, Inc. (Aplus) were shut down by the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) for failure to register with the tax agency.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

The Philippines.- The Philippine’s Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) has\u00a0closed POGO Imperial Choice and its service provider Aplus Accel<\/strong>\u00a0because it failed to register with the tax agency.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to Article 236 of the Tax Law and the newly promulgated POGO law, registration is required.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

BIR Deputy Commissioner for Operations Group, Arnel SD. Guballa, stated: “Their business operations will remain suspended and business establishments temporarily closed until the Bureau\u2019s registration requirements and other pertinent tax regulations are complied with and the corresponding deficiency taxes and penalties are paid.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He then added: “We will continue to strictly enforce the tax laws<\/strong> and raise the much-needed revenues for the government especially during this pandemic.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last February, POGOs<\/a> were ordered to register for the electronic reporting system managed by the AMLC.<\/strong> The decision followed an amendment to the Philippines\u2019 Anti-Money Laundering Act of 2001<\/strong> that includes real estate developers and brokers, and offshore gaming operators under the Act.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since September 2021, POGOs have to pay 5 per cent on gross gaming revenue under a new law<\/a> signed by President Rodrigo Duterte.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The bill also states that foreigners employed in online casinos and their service providers must pay a 25 per cent income tax<\/strong>. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Imperial Choice Limited (Imperial) and its accredited service provider Aplus Accel, Inc. (Aplus) were shut down by the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) for failure to register with the tax agency.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":176,"featured_media":9114,"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 suspended the operations of POGO Imperial Choice Limited and its service provider Aplus Accel, Inc. due to non-registration with the tax agency, citing violations of tax and POGO laws. This enforcement action underscores the BIR's commitment to stringent regulatory compliance and revenue collection, particularly following recent legislative changes imposing a 5% GGR tax on POGOs and a 25% income tax on foreign employees.","focusai_entities":"Imperial Choice Limited, Aplus Accel, Inc., Bureau of Internal Revenue, Arnel SD. Guballa, AMLC, Rodrigo Duterte","focusai_location":"Philippines","focusai_target_profile":"ceo_executive (0.9), regulator (1.0), compliance_legal (1.0), operator_casino (0.9), affiliate_publisher (0.7), payments_fraud_aml (0.8), investor_analyst (0.9), supplier_vendor (0.8)","focusai_suggestions":[{"label":"BIR Enforcement Scope","query":"What is the BIR's projected timeline and scope for further enforcement actions against non-compliant POGOs and their service providers in the Philippines?"},{"label":"POGO Law Impact","query":"How have the recent amendments to the POGO law, including the 5% GGR tax and 25% income tax for foreign employees, impacted the operational viability and market consolidation within the Philippine offshore gaming sector?"}],"footnotes":""},"categories":[156,16333],"tags":[15789],"class_list":["post-26040","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-regulation-news","category-south-east-asia-news","tag-pogos"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26040","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=26040"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26040\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26046,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26040\/revisions\/26046"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9114"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26040"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26040"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26040"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}