Imelda Marcos denies receiving demand letter on P203 billion estate tax — Imee

COLLECTION Screengrab of US documentary “The Kingmaker,” showing Imelda Marcos with her paintings. —INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines — Former First Lady Imelda Marcos has denied receiving a demand letter to settle their family’s P203 billion estate tax liability, Senator Imee Marcos said Friday, adding that their lawyers are now coordinating with the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) on the matter.

“Ang problema kasi, yung nanay ko, wala pa raw natatanggap. Tinanong ko sa kanya, e yung mga abogado niya, wala pang natatanggap. So nakikipaguganayan sila sa BIR na makakuha ng kopya at makipag-meeting, matagal na naming hinihingi rin ito e, kasi pati kami nalilito e,” Marcos said in a Teleradyo interview.

(The problem is that my mother has yet to receive the letter, I asked her and her lawyers have yet to receive it. So they are coordinating with the BIR for a copy and to meet, we have long been asking for this because we are also getting confused.)

Earlier, the Department of Finance and the BIR said that on December 2021, a written demand letter has been transmitted to the Marcos family to pay its tax deficiency.

“Wala kasing kopyang nakuha yung nanay ko at hinihingi nga yung buong dokumento para upuan na once and for all, kasi nakailang beses na rin kami na nakikisuyo sa kanila na upuan na natin at sumahin ang total,” Marcos added.

(My mother did not get a copy so she is asking for the whole document so we can sit down on it once and for all because we have asked them several times before for a meeting to calculate the total.)

The issue on the Marcos estate tax was first broached by the party of presidential candidate, Manila Mayor Isko Moreno, who called for the urgent payment of the unpaid estate tax.

The camp of former Senator Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. has maintained that the estate tax of his family remained unsettled since the properties linked to the case are still under litigation. Marcos Jr. is also running for president.

The Presidential Commission on Good Government, for its part, said the BIR “already executed its final assessment” on the involved properties as early as 1993 and that “as early as 1997, the judgment on the tax case had become final and executory”

EDV