BAGUIO CITY—The City Council approved on third and final reading a proposal granting a one-time sixmonth tax amnesty to give Baguio’s taxpayers who have real property tax penalties, fines, surcharges, interests, or arrears to pay their dues.
Authored by Vice Mayor Edison R. Bilog and Councilors Leandro B. Yangot Jr., Peter Fianza, and Elmer Datuin, the ordinance says the amnesty applies to delinquent taxpayers as of Dec. 31, 2015.
It includes properties that are undeclared and subject to taxes, declared properties with unpaid taxes, properties in auctions conducted by the local government that have not yet been purchased by private personsor entities, property owners with pending court cases whose land ownership are in question, and properties sold through public auctions whose ownership has not been officially transferred due to non-issuance of final deed of sale by the local government.
The ordinance will take effect 30 days from its approval by the mayor and its publication in local dailies.
Under the ordinance, all fines and arrears shall be condoned only if the real property taxes are paid within the six-month period. Payments can be made either in cash or in installments, provided the payments will be paid in full during the amnesty period as fixed and applied as of Dec.31, 2013.
Only after the delinquencies are settled will tax payments be credited to the current period, and no further amnesty shall be granted after the six-month period expires, the ordinance says.
It also says that the city will not hold any public auction of real properties owing to non-payment of tax delinquencies during the amnesty period. Real properties with delinquent taxes attached after the amnesty expires will be solid at public auction to the highest bidder, to satisfy payment of its accumulated delinquencies.
Taxpayers must file for amnesty with the City Treasury Office, which will prepare and process any compromise agreement, together with the related documents by and between the taxpayers and the city mayor, for and on behalf of the local government, the ordinance says.
Any breach of the compromise agreement and the payments under installment not be paid on its due date makes the total unpaid balance of the delinquent taxes and the entire amount of the penalties automatically due and demandable, and shall be enforced in accordance with law.