• Boxing

Pacquiao's taxes were paid - Arum

Manny Pacquiao defeated Brandon Rios last week © Getty Images

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Claims by the Filipino government that Manny Pacquiao owes $50 million in back taxes as of July are incorrect, according to his promoter Bob Arum.

"Filipino authorities confirmed that Manny is not required to pay double tax," Arum said in a statement. "If Manny paid U.S. taxes for fights and endorsements that occurred on U.S. soil, he is not required to pay double taxes in the Philippines."

The country's Bureau of Internal Revenue say Pacquiao hasn't proved that he paid taxes in 2008 and 2009, when he fought five times overall, with each bout taking place in the United States, and earned tens of millions of dollars.

"For each of Manny's fights that occurred in the United States, including those in 2008 and 2009, Top Rank withheld 30 percent of Manny's purses and paid those monies directly to the Internal Revenue Service via electronic funds transfer," Arum said. "Top Rank has deposit confirmations for each payment. Top Rank has done the same for all U.S. endorsements it has facilitated on Manny's behalf. Top Rank submitted copies of the EFT deposit acknowledgements to the Bureau of Internal Revenue as proof of payment. The BIR received the documents but directed Manny to obtain 'certified' documents directly from the IRS itself.

"As I am sure people appreciate, obtaining certified copies of documents from the IRS takes time. Manny made the formal request to the IRS, and we have every expectation that the necessary documents will be furnished to the BIR very soon."

Pacquiao's tax issue came to light when he returned to the Philippines last week after his lopsided decision win against Brandon Rios in Macau on November 23 with the promise to help typhoon victims but could not immediately do so because his bank accounts had been frozen due to the tax problem.

This article originally appeared on ESPN.com
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