THE Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR) is now a high roller among government corporate tax payers after it broke the billion peso mark for income tax for 2012, a historical feat for the state-owned gaming firm.

PAGCOR, which is tasked to regulate casino gaming operations in the country, will be paying a total of P1.07 billion in corporate income tax alone to the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) for 2012 after it raked in a whopping P40.88 billion total income last year—its strongest income performance in its 27-year history.

“This is the first time ever that our agency has become part of the billionaires club in terms of corporate income tax payments,” PAGCOR Chairman and CEO Cristino Naguiat, Jr. noted.

“We support the BIR’s tax collection campaign since this is one of the government’s basic sources in funding its various developmental programs,” Naguiat said.

According to the PAGCOR Chief, the state-owned gaming firm’s total payments to the BIR for 2012 would reach P5.5 billion. “This includes the P1.07 billion corporate income tax, P1.37 billion representing the 5% franchise tax from our gaming operations, P2.32 billion in franchise tax collections from PAGCOR’s licensees, and P778 million in withholding taxes,” he added.

With this staggering amount, PAGCOR is expected to remain in the list of the top GOCC taxpayers for 2012. Based on the Commission on Audit (COA) Annual Report for 2011, PAGCOR ranked third among top government corporate taxpayers with Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) topping the list and the Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp. (PSALM Corp)., landing second. The BSP paid BIR P26.7 billion in income, withholding and other taxes in 2011.

Meanwhile, PSALM Corp. and PAGCOR paid the BIR P5.5 billion and P4.98 billion, respectively, in corporate income and other taxes in the same year.

In December 2011, PAGCOR voluntarily settled unpaid back taxes amounting to almost P857 million incurred under the agency’s previous administration from 2004 to 2010. This after PAGCOR’s removal from the list of agencies that were exempted from paying Corporate Income Tax.

The previous PAGCOR management contested before the Supreme Court the constitutionality of the removal of the agency from the said list and asserted that PAGCOR’s charter exempts the agency from paying the corporate income tax. However, the Supreme Court issued a decision on April 6, 2011 rendering as constitutional the removal of PAGCOR from the list of Corporate Income Tax-exempt entities.

After this ruling, the new PAGCOR management immediately coordinated with the BIR for an audit of the back taxes that were supposed to have been paid by the agency. “We immediately coordinated with BIR Commissioner Kim Jacinto-Henares and informed her of our desire to voluntarily comply with PAGCOR’s tax obligations,” Naguiat said.

Since then, PAGCOR has been religiously complying with its tax obligations. “We are remitting the payments to the BIR on a quarterly basis. For 2011, we paid a total of P960 million in corporate income taxes alone,” Naguiat noted.

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