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IPI uses credits to defer tax payments


Imperial Pacific International said it was applying tax credits earned from previous years to defer paying income tax and blamed delays in land allocation, the weather and worker issues for its troubles in completing its Saipan resort.

The Saipan Times cited CEO Mark Brown as saying the past two years have worked against IPI’s development plans. The company has only remitted $41,000 in casino gross revenue tax for October to April, compared with  $40.9 million in 2016, $67.7 million in 2017, and $43.6 million in 2018.

“We have a half-built building, we are not paying our taxes, we are having all these troubles of getting construction workers,” he said. “…But everyone [should] understand that…we would not be in this situation” if IPI had gotten the Marpi land two years ago, “if we didn’t have all the issues with typhoons, construction workers, H-2Bs, and 700 workers that we had to send home.”

Brown was cited as saying that the company had been advised it had overpaid in prior years.

However, he reiterated IPI’s commitment to finish the project.

“My boss thinks anybody else would have ran for their lives and left but not us. …He definitely wants to finish [the] Garapan [site] and move forward with his plans. …He can’t leave now [because] he is in too deep.”

“We are still here, finishing the building and we are still getting investors—800 of them at a time—and promoting Saipan in Korea and Australia. …It’s a struggle because we have a lot of people against us but we are still here and we plan to see this through,” he added.

 

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