BIR denies FOI request for copy of demand letter sent to Marcoses

The Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) has denied GMA News Online’s Freedom of Information (FOI) request for a copy of the demand letter sent to the Marcos heirs in relation to their unsettled estate tax as ordered by the Supreme Court.

In its response to the FOI request, the BIR explained that the document being requested is one of “Sensitive Personal Information as defined under R.A. No. 10173 considering that it pertains to the details of the estate tax liabilities of the late Pres. Ferdinand Marcos.”

“Moreover, Section 270 of the National Internal Revenue Code of 1957, as amended, identifies the ‘unlawful divulgence’ rule wherein personnel of the Bureau of Internal Revenue cannot divulge information, obtained from the taxpayer’s business, income or estate as well as the secrets, operations, style or work or apparatus of any manufacturer or producer, or confidential information regarding the business of the taxpayer,” the BIR added.

The FOI request was lodged by GMA News on April 1, 2022 after Senator Imee Marcos, the daughter of  former dictator Ferdinand Marcos and brother of presidential candidate Bongbong Marcos, claimed that the Marcoses have yet to receive any communication from the BIR demanding payment for a multi-billion-peso tax on the estate of the late strongman. 

Imee said her mother Imelda and her lawyers have yet to receive a demand letter for the unpaid estate tax, which court records showed was initially set at P23 billion but has reportedly ballooned to P203 billion over the decades.

The BIR has earlier said it sent a written demand to the Marcoses regarding their tax liabilities on December 2, 2021. 

The Department of Finance has also said that the taxman continues to demand that the Marcos family settle their estate tax debt. 

An entry of judgment from the Supreme Court showed that the assessment of multi-billion estate taxes already became final and executory in 1999.

It was the party of presidential candidate and Manila Mayor Isko Moreno who first raised the issue of the Marcos family’s estate taxes. — BM, GMA News