Tax amnesty extension bills filed in Senate after House nod

Two bills seeking to extend the period of estate tax amnesty until June 14, 2025, have been filed in the Senate.

Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri, Senate President Pro Tempore Loren Legarda, and Majority Leader Joel Villanueva filed Senate Bill 2170 while Senate Committee on Ways and Means chairman Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian filed Senate Bill 2197.

Aside from extending the period for estate tax amnesty filing, both bills seek to expand the coverage by including the estate of decedents who died on or before December 31, 2021.

Gatchalian’s bill included a feature that allows a one-time declaration and settlement of the estate tax by the present holder, heirs, executors, or administrator of the properties subject to multiple unsettled estates or those estates which are still in the name of another decedent or donor—a provision which former President Rodrigo Duterte had vetoed from Republic Act No. 11213.

Under SB 2197, Gatchalian also proposed to prohibit the Bureau of Internal Revenue from requiring the taxpayers to submit proof of settlement, whether judicial or extrajudicial, in availing tax amnesty.

He explained that stringent requirements that are beyond the provisions of the law cause confusion and reluctance to file on the part of the taxpayers.

On Monday, the House of Representatives approved on third and final reading a bill that extends the period of availing of estate tax amnesty by two years, by postponing the deadline for application from June 14 this year to June 14, 2025.

The House version states that the coverage of availing of estate tax amnesty will apply to those who died on or before December 31, 2017, until December 31, 2021.

Under the 1987 Constitution, revenue and appropriation measures shall originate exclusively in the House of Representatives, but the Senate may propose or concur with amendments. —NB, GMA Integrated News