To fast-track its enactment, the House of Representatives has adopted a Senate bill extending the period of the estate tax amnesty.
The plenary of the lower chamber adopted late Monday Senate Bill 2208 as amendment to the House Bill 7068. This means the bill can now be transmitted to the Palace for the President’s signature.
The adoption was done after the Senate unanimously approved also on Monday SB 2208 extending the availment period of estate tax amnesty for two years, or until June 14, 2023.
It seeks to amend the Tax Amnesty Act, which set a June 14, 2021 deadline for the filing of estate tax returns.
Sen. Pilar Juliana “Pia” S. Cayetano, who chairs the sponsoring Ways and Means Committee, said the proposed measure is essentially identical to House Committee on Ways and Means Chairman Joey Sarte Salceda’s House Bill 7068.
Salceda, for his part, said the approval of the estate tax amnesty extension is a “win-win” for all stakeholders.
“Estate tax amnesty extension, as far as it releases land for productive use and raises revenues for the government, should be considered a stimulus bill,” Salceda explained. “The extension of the estate tax amnesty acknowledges the plain reality that it has become very difficult to process papers because of Covid-19.”
Salceda said amending RA 11213 will enable those who want to take advantage of the program to have ample time to recoup their resources and get back on their feet so they can still apply and pay their estate tax dues.
He said this is the reason why everyone who has outstanding estate tax liabilities as of December 31, 2017, “is encouraged to take advantage of this excellent and rare opportunity offered by the government.”
For her part, Cayetano said that SB 2208 updates the existing law by amending Section 6 of Tax Amnesty Act. He recalled that the existing law passed in 2019 as RA 11213 gave taxpayers a one-time opportunity to settle their tax obligations, including an Estate Tax Amnesty program, adding that filing of estate tax amnesty returns took effect on June 15, 2019, granting a reasonable tax relief to estates with outstanding tax liabilities.
“In particular, estates of decedents who died on or before December 31, 2017 and whose estate taxes have not been paid or have accrued as of December 31, 2017 are given the period of June 15, 2019 until June 14, 2021, to file their estate tax returns. This deadline is only a few weeks away,” she added.
Cayetano said that due to the strict travel restrictions and stalled economic activities in the time of Covid-19, many Filipinos have been unable to file their tax returns and settle their tax obligations. She added that the community quarantines imposed in different parts of the country prevented taxpayers from availing of the tax amnesty mandated by law.
Citing the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR), Cayetano said the BIR’s collected revenue from the estate tax amnesty program was only around P2.5 billion, which was below its expected estimated additional revenue of P6.28 billion.
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