Unpaid estate tax amnesty hurdles House committee

The House of Representatives ways and means committee passed the bill seeking to impose amnesty for all unpaid estate tax.

In a statement on Wednesday, Marikina Rep. Miro Quimbo, a deputy speaker and former ways and means chairperson, said the panel approved his House Bill 3010 or the amnesty tax bill, which provides for a lowering of the tax rate to six percent of the gross value of the property.

“The estate tax amnesty instantly resolves the triple deadlock we now have in non-compliance, low tax collection, and idle properties. Even while dealing with bereavement, the heirs are faced with the obligations of complying with the filing of tax returns and substantial payments within a small window of time,” Quimbo said.

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“This commonly results in non-compliance, which, accordingly leads to idle properties and low tax collection,” he added.

The estate tax amnesty bill provides for a lowering of the tax rate to six percent of the gross value of the property, making it equal to the current rate of tax on capital gains, Quimbo said.

The proposed rate under the estate tax amnesty bill effectively lowers the current tax rate of 20 percent in the National Internal Revenue Code (NIRC), he added.

The heirs were also given a year from the passage of the law to avail of the amnesty.

Quimbo said that based on simulation of the rates, the tax rate for a net estate of P13,000,000 and below is even lower than capital gains tax.

The ways and means committee under current chairperson Quirino Rep. Dakila Cua would consolidate the two versions of the bill authored by Quimbo and Iloilo Rep. Arthur Defensor Jr.

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“I thank the Committee on Ways and Means, under Chairman Dakila Cua, for their swift and decisive action on the estate tax amnesty bill. The Committee recognized the long-drawn out and valid complaint of family members,” Quimbo said.

“The Committee also recognized the wisdom of providing a mechanism to collect more revenues for the coffers of the government. I am positive that my colleagues in the lower house will also throw their support behind this measure once it reaches the plenary,” he added. JE