Manny Pacquiao is not only a boxing great but an honest and champion taxpayer, too.

This was confirmed Saturday by the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) officials as the Filipino boxer fights Sunday Puerto Rican Miguel Cotto for the latter's welterweight title in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA.

“We have inquired from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) of the US and the confidential information furnished us jibed with the financial statements submitted to us by Manny (Pacquiao)," said Pasig Revenue District Officer Rey Asterio Tambis.

Pacquiao has been adjudged through the years as one of the top individual taxpayers by the Pasig Revenue District Office which has jurisdiction over the MP (Manny Pacquiao) Promotions holding office at the Ortigas Center.

Tambis, however, refused to disclose how much taxes Pacquiao has paid, saying “all tax records are confidential and any revenue personnel who breaks that confidentiality is criminally liable and can be sent to jail for years aside from being barred from holding public office.”

Lawyer Efren Martinez, chief of the BIR's personnel inquiry division, said Pacquiao's earnings, including those from his endorsements of commercial products, are subject to both business and income taxes.

Like other Filipinos earning income from abroad, Martinez said Pacquaio is also required to pay taxes even if he continues to give the country great honor and recognition.

“What are exempted from payment of taxes are cash prizes bestowed to individuals who win awards for certain endeavors like religious, cultural, and humanitarian.”

He said, however, that overseas Filipino workers (OFW) are exempted from paying income tax under a special law but required to pay the same if they derive income from other sources.

Martinez said the billionaire-boxer is also required to pay income tax from his cash prize winnings minus expenses and withholding taxes imposed by the government in the US where all his big fights were held in compliance with a tax treaty agreement between the two countries.

Based on last week's Time magazine cover story Pacquiao is expected to receive $18 million prize money from the bout, plus a huge share from pay per view remittance.

It was learned that Pacquiao has served notice that he is moving out of Pasig District Office and transferring his MP Promotions to a multi-storey building in Sampaloc, Manila, which he acquired recently and where he is planning to put up a sports gymnasium.