BIR urged to continue efforts vs. P203-B estate tax

MANILA – Aksyon Demokratiko chair Ernesto Ramel Jr. on Friday known as on the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) to keep on its assortment initiatives on the PHP203 billion Marcos estate tax which is still unpaid as of now.

In a letter to BIR Commissioner Ceasar R. Dulay, Ramel asked for the BIR chief “to promptly and repeatedly carry out selection initiatives, whether or not in a civil or legal fashion of collection, which includes distraint/garnishment of the financial institution accounts relating to the estate of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos Sr.”

The two-webpage letter dated April 21 was been given by the office environment of the BIR Commissioner on the very same working day, the get together said in a assertion.

It was the third letter despatched by the Aksyon Demokratiko chair to the BIR, with the initially asking the Commissioner whether his agency has sent a demand from customers letter to the Marcos heirs to which Dulay replied that they sent the desire letter on December 2, 2021.

The need letter, Ramel mentioned, implies that the estate tax liability of the Marcos estate is not nevertheless thoroughly compensated in spite of the enforced evaluation and assortment treatments utilized by the BIR.

The unpaid Marcos estate tax has grown to PHP203 billion because of to surcharges and penalties levied by the BIR.

“The executor/administrator/beneficiary/human being in real or constructive possession of any assets of the Marcos Estate continually evade or defeat to fork out the estate tax delinquency as expected beneath Area 84 of the aged Code (now Sec. 91 of the current Code). These willful attempts are punishable with fines and imprisonment underneath Area 254 of the old Code (now Sec. 254 and 255 of the current Code),” Ramel reported in a statement.

He added that it is essential that the BIR physical exercise its mandate to implement public contribution (taxes) for the profit of its citizens, in this case the 110 million Filipino individuals.

Ramel continued: “The Commissioner is obliged to accomplish his duties below Sec. 3 of the aged Code (Sec. 2 of the current Code), to wit: Sec. 2. Powers and Responsibilities of the Bureau of Inside Earnings Code. — “xxx xxx xxx its powers and responsibilities shall comprehend the evaluation and collection of all inside income taxes, service fees and charges, xxx xxx xxx and the enforcement of all forfeitures, penalties and fines connected therewith, which include the execution xxx xxx xxx” He also pointed out that with the use of the word “shall”, “it is therefore obligatory on the portion of the BIR to pursue the enforcement of its collection powers and obligations, which involve the treatment of Area 221 of the outdated and current Code.”

“The solution for the enforcement of Statutory Penal Provisions of all sorts shall be by felony or civil action, as the individual condition might require, matter to the acceptance of the Commissioner as presented for in Sec. 221 of the outdated and current Code,” Ramel claimed.

He mentioned no a lot less than Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez, whose department has immediate supervision more than the BIR, admitted that the estate tax liability stays unpaid until the current time.

“We consider that it is in the very best fascination of the Filipino Men and women that the taxes to be collected be put into its community use specially in this time of pandemic,” Ramel stated.

Francisco “Isko Moreno” Domagoso, the Aksyon Demokratiko presidential applicant, was the just one who initial brought out the challenge of the PHP203 billion Marcos estate tax that has remained unpaid and uncollected irrespective of the demand letters getting sent by the BIR to the Marcos loved ones each individual five yrs.

If he will become president, Domagoso has claimed he will acquire the PHP203 billion estate tax and use it as financial assistance and “ayuda” to the 3.5 million Filipinos who shed their employment at the top of the Covid-19 pandemic that began in March 2020.

The circumstance of Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. vs. Court docket of Appeals, the Commissioner of the Bureau of Inner Profits and Herminia D. De Guzman, the Supreme Court held that the estate tax assessment versus the petitioner (Marcos Jr.) has by now become last and unappealable.

On March 9, 1999 and centered on the entry of judgment, the Choice of the Supreme Courtroom ordering the Marcos heirs to pay out PHP23 billion in estate taxes, turned final and executory.

From February to May possibly 1993 and by way of collection of taxes, BIR issued notices of levy on houses of Marcos and offered assets by means of public auction to fulfill tax legal responsibility. (PNA)