MANILA (UPDATED) – The Supreme Court on Wednesday stopped the Court of Tax Appeals (CTA) from collecting P3.3 billion cash bond or around P5 billion surety bond from boxing icon and Saranggani Rep. Manny Pacquiao and his wife, Jinkee.
The Supreme Court’s 3rd Division issued an indefinite Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) against the CTA order that required the cash bond or surety bond as a condition for the suspension of collection of their alleged deficiency income taxes and VAT for the 2008 and 2009 by the Bureau of Internal Revenue.
The TRO enjoins the BIR from “issuing, executing, enforcing, implementing, or otherwise giving effect to any warrant of distraint and/or levy, warrants of garnishment, and notice of tax lien, and from attempting to collect any tax on the basis of the deficiency income tax and vat assessments against petitioners for the years 2008 and 2009, as well as any increments.”
The Supreme Court also ordered the CTA to resolve the case against the Pacquiaos with dispatch.
The tax court imposed the bond when it stopped the BIR from garnishing the properties of Pacquiao and his wife, Jinkee.
In a July 11 resolution, the tax court dismissed an appeal and gave the Pacquiaos 30 days to post a cash bond worth P3,298,514,894.35 or a GSIS bond or surety bond worth P 4,947,772,341.53.
“The issuance of the TRO by the Supreme Court is an answered prayer for Cong. Manny,” said Pacquiao’s lawyer, Atty. Tranquil Salvador III.
“The CTA case will proceed but not the distraintt, levy and garnishment while the TRO is in effect,” he said in a text message to ABS-CBN News.
