THE Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) has filed a P2.228-billion tax evasion case against offshore Philippine offshore gaming operator (Pogo) Hongsheng Gaming Technology, Inc., which was allegedly involved with convicted former Bamban City Mayor Alice Guo and cryptocurrency investment scams.
A statement issued by the BIR last Thursday said the country’s main tax-collecting agency filed a tax evasion case with the Department of Justice on August 6, citing under-declaration of income tax and failure to declare the correct value-added tax (VAT) and final withholding tax from 2021 to 2023.
The BIR said it found ‘significant discrepancies’ between the company’s declared revenues and information contained in records obtained from various government agencies.
‘Honest taxpayers deserve a level playing field,’ Internal Revenue Commissioner Charlito Martin R. Mendoza was quoted in a statement as saying. ‘No business should be able to operate in the Philippines, earn income here, and evade the taxes required by law.’
Mendoza said the BIR will continue to pursue tax evasion cases wherever the evidence leads them.
The filing forms part of the BIR’s Run After Tax Evaders program, which targets tax evasion and other schemes that erode government revenues.
Hongsheng previously operated an offshore gaming hub in Bamban, Tarlac, which was raided by authorities in 2023 over alleged involvement in cryptocurrency investment scams. Of the 850 employees detained, 500 were Filipinos and 350 were foreigners.
Gaming regulator Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. ordered the corporation to halt all gaming activities after the raid.
Hongsheng has also been linked to Guo, who was convicted of human trafficking for her connections to the Pogo-linked operations in Bamban, Tarlac.
The BIR has also filed criminal tax charges against Guo for allegedly evading taxes and for her failure to file annual income tax returns for taxable years 2019 to 2023, involving an estimated income tax deficiency of more than P1.008 billion, inclusive of surcharges and interest.