MANILA - News website Rappler goes "overboard" when paying taxes, its CEO Maria Ressa said Thursday, after the Bureau of Internal Revenue filed a tax evasion complaint against her and several others.

Ressa told ANC she was "more than willing to fight" the tax case in the public space. She said the BIR had recognized Rappler as one of the country's top corporate taxpayers.

• Rappler faces tax evasion complaint

"It doesn’t have a date time period but obviously you would assume that the BIR has done its work and they can see that we actually overpay our taxes," Ressa said.

"We respect government. We ask that it remain professional, give us due process, we can answer every single charge it had," she said.

The BIR filed the complaint against the website's holding company, Rappler Holdings, over its alleged failure to pay taxes on the sale of Philippine Depositary Receipts.

Tax authorities said Rappler had P133.84 million in taxes due over the sale of P181.67 million in PDRs to 2 foreign firms.

The PDR sale was the subject of a different case, wherein the Securities and Exchange Commission revoked Rappler's business registration for violating constitutional restrictions on foreign ownership