Philam Life tax payments reach P1.6B in 2012

MANILA, Philippines - The Philippine American Life and General Insurance Co. (Philam Life) has paid P1.6 billion in income taxes in 2012.

Philam Life chief financial officer Andreas Rosenthal said the life insurance company paid P1.6 billion and that the table released recently by the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) on Top 500 Corporate Taxpayers was likely based on only regular corporate income tax and minimum corporate income tax.

Rosenthal said that there are four types of income taxes paid. That includes regular corporate income tax, minimum corporate income tax, final withholding tax, and expanded withholding tax.

“The combined final withholding tax and expanded withholding tax can make up a significant portion or even majority of total income taxes paid,” he added.

Philam Life is a huge insurance and financial institution in the country. It has been dominating the life insurance industry for decades.

It provides solutions to various financial needs including life protection, health insurance, savings, education, retirement, investment, group and credit life insurance.

In an interview with reporters recently, Philam Life chief executive officer Rex Mendoza said that the insurer has investments that are slapped final tax and expanded withholding tax.

“We have final withholding tax, we have huge investments where we pay our taxes. If we didn’t pay the tax, don’t you think we would be in jail right now?” Mendoza said.

In its 2012 financial statement, Philam Life reported a net income of P3.3 billion, and paid insurance benefits and claims worth P18.7 billion.

Total assets were valued at P193.2 billion and stockholders equity of P68.4 billion.

The insurer also reported gross premiums of P15.4 billion, and net investment income of P11.8 billion.

Philam Life is part of the AIA Group Ltd. (AIA) considered the largest independent publicly listed pan-Asian life insurance group. It has operations in 17 markets in Asia-Pacific – wholly-owned branches and subsidiaries in Hong Kong, Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, China, Korea, the Philippines, Australia, Indonesia, Taiwan, Vietnam, New Zealand, Macau, Brunei, a 97-percent subsidiary in Sri Lanka, a 26-percent joint venture in India and a representative office in Myanmar.

It is a market leader in the Asia-Pacific region (ex-Japan) based on life insurance premiums and holds leading positions across the majority of its markets. It had total assets of $147 billion end Nov. 2013.

Recently, the BIR released Tax Watch wherein 39 of the top 100 companies ranked by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) based on gross revenue were not on the BIR’s list of top 500 non-individual taxpayers.

Eight of the 39 companies reportedly did not pay its income tax in 2012.

These include National Grid Corp of the Philippines, South Premiere Power Corp., Therma Luzon Inc., Amkor Technology Philippines Inc., Rohm Electronics Philippines Inc., Nanox Philippines Inc., Semirara Mining Corp., and Philam Life.

Tax Watch did not explain its report, but curiously three other insurers on the list paid taxes in the same period.