PBA players to undergo special tax clinic

MANILA, Philippines – After PBA players Jimmy Alapag and Jared Dillinger were slapped with tax evasion raps last month, the league has tied up with the Bureau of Internal Revenue to avoid similar cases in the future.

The BIR will hold a special tax clinic for the PBA players on the proper filing of income tax returns. The clinic will be held on April 8 at 10 a.m. in the national training center of the BIR office.

League commissioner Chito Salud said the clinic is intended for all PBA players, whom he said should be emulated as role models both as players on court and law abiding citizens off the court.

At the same time, the commissioner added the partnership is part of the 38-year-old league’s support for the bureau’s campaign for tax compliance awareness and payment of correct taxes.

Alapag and Dillinger’s camps have rebuffed the BIR and said they were still in the process of completing their papers for review. 

“We want our players to be model citizens in so far as paying what is due to the government. This is PBA’s way of contributing to nation-building,” Salud said.

Salud is urging all PBA players to attend the seminar.

“We are thankful to BIR commissioner Kim Henares and deputy commissioners Nelson Aspe and Estela Sales, for providing the venue and lecturers during the tax clinic. We trust that this relationship between the PBA and the BIR would go a long way in helping the government collect higher revenues,” Salud said.

Deadline for filing of income tax returns is on April 15.