Castro questions if Marcos is eligible for estate tax amnesty during hearing on bill

MANILA, Philippines —Rep. France Castro (Alliance of Concerned Teachers party-list) asked about the Marcos family’s potential eligibility for the estate tax amnesty extension at Monday’s House of Representatives Committee on Ways and Means hearing on House Bill 7409.

Retired Supreme Court senior associate justice Antonio Carpio stated in March 2022 that the P23 billion estate tax the court ordered the Marcos family to pay in 1997 had now climbed to P203 billion, prompting the inquiry.

READ: House panel approves bill extending estate tax amnesty

Castro, who said she was not against the extension of the estate tax amnesty, was asking how the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) intends to collect the unpaid taxes from delinquent payments when she cited Marcos’ case.

“‘Yong mga delinquent like for example, pwede bang ma-avail ito ni President Marcos Jr. just in case?  Ito na ‘yong last (question) ko, na meron naman silang ano — how do we collect ‘yong ating estate tax?” Castro asked.

“Kasi pinag-uusapan natin ‘yong estate tax, Mr. Chair at maganda sigurong image kung ang ating Presidente ay mag-volunteer na mabayaran ‘yung estate tax. How about that Mr. Chair?” she said, pointing to committee chairperson and Albay 2nd District Rep. Joey Salceda.

READ: Marcoses’ P203-B estate tax ‘gone forever’ if Bongbong wins — Carpio

Salceda explained that HB No. 7409 aims to amend the Tax Amnesty Act (RA No. 11213) by extending the deadline until June 14, 2025, instead of the original deadline of June 15, 2023. The committee presented the exceptions found in Section 9 of RA No. 11213, determining who can avail of the estate tax amnesty.

Under Section 9, the following estate cannot avail of the tax amnesty — and therefore would also not be eligible for extensions provided by HB No. 7409 should it be enacted into law:

• falling under the jurisdiction of the Presidential Commission on Good Government
  involving unexplained or unlawfully acquired wealth under Republic Act No. 3019 (Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act)
• involving violations of Republic Act No. 9160 (Anti-Money Laundering Act)
• involving tax evasion and other criminal offenses under Chapter II of Title X of the National Internal Revenue Code of 1997 as amended
• involving felonies of fraud, illegal extractions and transactions, and malversation of public funds and property under Chapter III and IV of Title VII of the Revised Penal Code

During the campaign season for the 2022 polls, the estate tax was an issue hurled by presidential aspirants against then-candidate Marcos and his family.  However, Marcos’ former spokesperson Vic Rodriguez insisted that the case is still pending before the courts, as the ownership of the properties questioned has not been determined.

Last March 2022, BIR confirmed that they sent out a written demand letter to the Marcos family to settle the P203 billion estate tax.

READ: BIR vows to study Marcos Jr. estate tax case

In an interview last September 2022, President Marcos said he is willing to reopen the case and argue, noting that they were not allowed to make an opinion on the matter since they were in the United States when the issue was discussed.

With reports from Maria Liezl Projella, trainee

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