A HOUSE leader on Friday urged the leadership of the House of Representatives to prioritize the passage of a measure granting tax amnesty for all unpaid estate taxes.
Deputy Speaker and Marikina Rep. Miro Quimbo made the appeal following the House Committee on Ways and Means passage of House Bill 3010 that “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. This commonly results in non-compliance which, accordingly, leads to idle properties and low tax collection,” Quimbo, principal author of the measure, said.
Quimbo said the complicated scheme of filing the estate tax is also a disincentive for the heirs to comply.
The failure in filing estate tax within a time frame also subjects the taxpayer to penalties and interests under the NIRC, 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.
The proposed rate under the estate tax amnesty bill effectively lowers the current tax rate of 20 percent in the National Internal Revenue Code.
The heirs are also given a year from the passage of the law to avail of the amnesty.
Based on simulation of the rates in HB 3010, the tax rate for a net estate of P13,000,000 and below is even lower than capital gains tax.
After the bill’s passage last week, the House Committee on Ways and Means which he chaired during the 16th Congress is set to consolidate the two estate tax amnesty bills: HB 3010, also authored by Quimbo, and HB 1889, authored by deputy majority leader and Iloilo Rep. Arthur Defensor Jr.
Quimbo said: “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. 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.”
