The Philippines government will debate new taxes to help limit illegal activities at offshore gambling venues.
Debating the New Tax for POGOs
The Philippine Offshore Gambling Operator(POGO) industry will have to deal with more pressure from the governmentafter Albey Representative Joey Salceda filed 7BALL a new legislation aimed atimposing additional taxes on POGO employees working in the country. The reasonfor the levy is that licensed online gaming operators are changing theirclassification from PAGCOR-accredited service providers to residentcorporations.
PAGCOR – the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation – runs its own casinos and is in charge of the regulation and supervision of privately owned casinos, more than 180 bingo parlors, as well as e-games cafes all over the country.
According to Salceda, since companies from the POGO sector are running their business in the Philippines, the income of workers employed within these firms should be subject to tax. Gambling operators are already being imposed certain duties, but Salceda believes that there has to be a specific tax code applicable to the incomings of staff. These measures are partly necessitated by previous misdemeanors.
The levy in ps
If House Bill 5267 passes through, POGO companies might beobliged to put 15% fees on the salaries, wages, annuities and othercompensation of their workforce. The legislation also envisages additional 5%tax on POGO gross gaming revenue, a step already required by the Bureauof Internal Revenue (BIR).
Salceda also requests that each live POGO remote table game dealershould pay $10,000 per month, while each random number generated(RNG) game available should be charged $5,000 monthly.
According to Salceda, introducing a code system for POGO taxes willgrant the government more flexibility in the supervision of the sector and willsupport the better tax revenue intake and enforcement. The bill will also allowfor keeping track of the number of POGO employees in the Phillipines.
China imposes harsh tone on the Philippines
The promotion of the bill was also prompted by recent tensions betweenthe Phillipines and China, when in August, the Chinese Embassy in the Asiancountry demanded specific and productive measures to be taken against POGOsreceiving bets from customers located in China. According to a statement issuedby the embassy, the interests of China have been hurt as Chinese customers arebeing a target of Philippine casinos and POGOS. The statement also reads thatChina’s financial safety has been endangered due to the illegal flow of fundsinto the Philippines, which involves cross-border money laundering among otherunlawful activities.
China President Xi Jinping and his Philippian counterpart Rodrigo Duterte had a meeting in which it was decided that the 60 authorized POGO operators in the Philippines wouldn’t be shuttered, but instead the Department of Finance will impose sanctions on online betting companies failing to comply with their tax liabilities. The country is also making attempts to extradite Chinese nationals employed in the POGO centers. Only last month, the Immigration Bureau 324 Chinese nationals were detained after raids in eight POGO firms in Puerto Princesa in the western Philippines. The detainees are facing charges for operating unauthorized online gaming, among other crimes.
