MANILA, Philippines — A bill extending the estate tax amnesty deadline to June 14, 2025, has been approved by the House of Representatives on the third and final reading.
During Monday’s session, 259 lawmakers voted in favor of the estate tax amnesty extension as contained in House Bill (HB) No. 7909, while none voted against it or abstained.
If the bill is enacted, heirs of individuals whose estate taxes remain unpaid as of December 31, 2021, will have the chance to settle it until June 2025. However, if it is not signed into law, the amnesty will end on June 15, 2023.
HB No. 7909 is the consolidated version of bills seeking an estate tax amnesty, including HB No. 7409 authored by Speaker Ferdinand Martin Romualdez, Majority Floor Leader and Zamboanga City 2nd District Rep. Manuel Jose Dalipe, Ilocos Norte 1st District Rep. Ferdinand Alexander Marcos, and Tingog party-list Reps. Yedda Marie Romualdez and Jude Acidre.
During the deliberations at the House committee on ways and means, panel chairperson and Albay 2nd District Rep. Joey Salceda said that the approval of the bill is important since a lot of families have failed to settle the estate of their deceased relatives due to several concerns, including the COVID-19 pandemic.
According to Salceda, there are families who still struggle with the filing of required documents, while some fail to comply with financial requirements.
Deputy Speaker and Batangas 6th District Rep. Ralph Recto meanwhile asked his former classmates in the Senate to start discussing estate tax amnesty extensions so that Congress can submit the bill for President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s signature before the legislature goes into a sine die adjournment by June 3.
Republic Act No. 11569, which also amended the mother law or R.A. No. 11213, was signed by former president Rodrigo Duterte last July 2021.
The Duterte-signed R.A. No. 11569 sought to enhance revenue collection by granting amnesty on unpaid internal revenue taxes imposed by the national government for the taxable year 2017 and prior years.
This means that the estate of descendants who died on or before December 31, 2017 — with or without assessments duly issued thereof, and whose estate taxes remained unpaid or have accrued as of the same date — were covered.
However, delays brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic also hampered the processing of estate taxes as different lockdowns and restrictions were placed in several areas since the law was signed.