The Finance Department plans to lower the estate tax to an across-the-board 6 percent to ease the burden of taxpayers and improve the government’s tax collection efficiency.
Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III told reporters in a recent interview the lower estate tax was part of a tax reform plan to be submitted to Congress by the end of September.
“We charge up to 20 percent for estate taxes and quite frankly we know… most of the lands were still in the name of the people’s grandfathers because they do not want to transfer it because they do not want to pay the 20 percent [estate tax],” Dominguez said.
The Bureau of Internal Revenue earlier defined estate tax as the tax on the right of the deceased to transmit his or her estate to the lawful heirs at the time of death. It is not a tax on property, but a tax imposed on the privilege of transmitting property upon the death of the owner.
The BIR website said the highest amount of estate tax to be be paid is P1.215 million plus 20 percent in excess of P10 million, if the net estate is P10 million or higher.