{"id":7840,"date":"2020-07-05T14:48:44","date_gmt":"2020-07-05T14:48:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/?p=7840"},"modified":"2026-04-24T03:56:20","modified_gmt":"2026-04-24T06:56:20","slug":"bir-eases-tax-rules-for-pogos","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/bir-eases-tax-rules-for-pogos","title":{"rendered":"BIR eases tax rules for POGOs"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Requirements to restart operations after the Covid-19 lockdown have been revised.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Philippines.- The Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) has posted new guidelines and requirements for Philippine offshore gaming operators (POGOs) and their service providers to apply for clearance<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">POGOs need to be cleared by the BIR to resume operations after the Covid-19 lockdown. In the last few days it&#8217;s emerged that some of the companies that had not been allowed to restart work <strong><em><a aria-label=\"undefined (opens in a new tab)\" href=\"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/pagcor-warns-pogos-leaving-philippines\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">had decided to leave the country<\/a><\/em><\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The BIR has now posted on its website <strong><em>Revenue Memorandum Circular No. 64-2020<\/em><\/strong>, which removes specific coverage dates for franchise tax payments. The previous guidelines required POGO licence holders and service providers to have cancelled their dues with the BIR and their own workers for all of 2019 and this year\u2019s first quarter, backing that up with the corresponding documentation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The BIR has now left out the requirements for a notarised submission regarding \u201ctax arrears for prior years,\u201d and the payment of the withholding tax for employing foreign workers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Even though the Philippine government has made it clear that the firms that abandon the market <strong><em><a href=\"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/pogos-must-settle-bills-before-leaving-the-country\" target=\"_blank\" aria-label=\"undefined (opens in a new tab)\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">are still liable<\/a><\/em><\/strong> for unpaid taxes, major POGOs such as SC World Development Group \u2013owned by Suncity Group- and Don Tencess Asian Services Solution have already closed operations.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Requirements to restart operations after the Covid-19 lockdown have been revised.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"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 revised guidelines for Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGOs) to resume operations, removing specific coverage dates for franchise tax payments and certain notarized submissions. This comes as several major POGOs have ceased operations and exited the market, despite government assertions of continued tax liability for unpaid dues.","focusai_entities":"Bureau of Internal Revenue, SC World Development Group, Suncity Group, Don Tencess Asian Services Solution","focusai_location":"Philippines","focusai_target_profile":"ceo_executive (0.9), regulator (1.0), compliance_legal (0.95), operator_casino (0.95), investor_analyst (0.9), supplier_vendor (0.75), journalist_researcher (0.9)","focusai_suggestions":[{"label":"BIR Enforcement Strategy","query":"What specific enforcement mechanisms will the Bureau of Internal Revenue deploy to recover unpaid tax liabilities from POGOs that have ceased operations and exited the Philippine market?"},{"label":"POGO Market Viability","query":"How do these revised tax and operational guidelines, coupled with recent POGO departures, alter the long-term attractiveness and operational viability of the Philippine iGaming market for remaining and prospective operators?"}],"footnotes":""},"categories":[156,16333],"tags":[128,15789],"class_list":["post-7840","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-regulation-news","category-south-east-asia-news","tag-philippines","tag-pogos"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7840","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\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7840"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7840\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":777008654,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7840\/revisions\/777008654"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7840"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7840"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7840"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}