Extension of estate tax amnesty pushed

Rep. Wilbert Lee. Photo from congress.gov.ph

Citing taxpayers’ economic woes amid the COVID-19 pandemic and high inflation, a party list lawmaker is pushing to extend the estate tax amnesty period for two years, or until 2025.

In his House Bill (HB) No. 7872, AGRI party list Rep. Wilbert Lee is seeking to amend Republic Act No. 11213, or the Tax Amnesty Act, which was enacted in 2019 as a “one-time opportunity to settle estate tax obligations through an estate tax amnesty program that will give reasonable tax relief to estates with deficiency estate taxes.”

Filed last April 11, HB 7872 pushed for an extension of the estate tax amnesty period to June 14, 2025. The amnesty period for estate taxes is set to end on June 14, 2023, as provided for in RA 11213.

“With the impact of the pandemic and the [fast] inflation rate that we still face, it is incumbent upon the government to address and lessen the taxpayer’s current burden,” Lee said in his bill’s explanatory note.

The measure will allow taxpayers “who are in the process of recovering from the effects of their losses and the impact of the high inflation rate are given an additional opportunity and protection to pay their estate taxes, including increments and additions under the National Internal Revenue Code, through an extension of estate tax amnesty.”

The bill’s explanatory note cited the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and high inflation on the “economic ability of the people in settling their estate taxes due to [a] lack of money and resources.”

During the two-year extended period for estate tax amnesty, the executor, administrator or legal heirs of the estate may file for estate tax amnesty and pay the amnesty tax with the Bureau of Internal Revenue’s revenue district offices.

The measure stressed that “availment of the estate tax amnesty and the issuance of the corresponding acceptance payment form do not imply any admission of criminal, civil or administrative liability on the part of the availing estate.”

“With programs like estate tax amnesty, our countrymen will be given a chance to recover from their economic burdens,” Lee said in a statement.