Report: Pacquiao owes IRS $18 million

MANILA, Philippines – Manny Pacquiao’s tax woes are apparently not confined to the Bureau of Internal Revenue.

A report by entertainment website TMZ says Pacquiao owes the US Internal Revenue Service a total of $18,313,668.79 in back taxes for his fights from 2006 to 2010.

TMZ, citing official documents, included a breakdown of back taxes:

• 2006 – $1,160,324.30
• 2007 – $2,035,992.50
• 2008 – $2,862,437.11
• 2009 – $8,022,915.87
• 2010 – $4,231,999.01

From that span, Pacquiao fought a total of 11 times in the US – against Erik Morales (twice) in 2006, Jorge Solis and Marco Antonio Barrera in 2007, Juan Manuel Marquez, David Diaz and Oscar De La Hoya in 2008, Ricky Hatton and Miguel Cotto in 2009, and Joshua Clottey and Antonio Margarito in 2010.

Interesting to note is his massive showdown with Dela Hoya, wherein Pacquiao reportedly took home up to $30 million in purse. A good portion of his fights from that period also sold good on pay-per-view and live gate receipts.

The IRS issue comes as Pacquiao is currently waging a separate battle with the BIR, which claimed the boxer owes the government $50 million in taxes from 2008 to 2009. This led to Pacquiao’s local bank accounts being frozen amid the fighting congressman’s claims that he had paid his taxes in the US instead, where the fights in question took place.

Read: Pacquiao petitions court to stop BIR's freeze order

Even Pacquiao’s promoter, Bob Arum, insisted that they’ve remitted to the IRS whatever amount Pacquiao owed to them for his fights in the US.

In an interview with ANC, Pacquiao's lawyer Atty. Tranquil Salvador said their camp is not aware of the IRS issue.

Atty. Tranquil Salvador, Pacquiao's lawyer, on TMZ report: We deny. We have no knowledge of the so-called IRS tax deficiency.

— ABS-CBN News Channel (@ANCALERTS) December 11, 2013

Pacquiao, who last saw action last November 24 against Brandon Rios in Macau, said he had to borrow money to help victims of typhoon Yolanda as a result of the BIR’s move to freeze his assets.

Related stories: Henares to Pacquiao: Don't use BIR as excuse | PNoy to Pacquiao: Answer BIR, don't engage in media war