Tighter estate tax amnesty bill pushed in Senate

MANILA, Philippines — Senators are pushing to tighten the proposed estate tax amnesty bill to prevent “fake death” inheritance fraud and discourage taxpayers from deliberately dodging their dues in anticipation of endless government pardons.

During Friday’s hearing of the Senate committee on ways and means, Senate President Sherwin Gatchalian warned that granting a fourth estate tax amnesty since 2019 removes the urgency to pay and accidentally incentivizes tax evasion.

“Maybe after we pass this amnesty law and after a few years they won’t pay again because they know there will be another amnesty,” Gatchalian said.

Instead of treating the amnesty as a cure-all, Gatchalian urged the Department of Finance (DOF) to investigate the root causes of non-payment, questioning whether the baseline six-percent amnesty rate remains too expensive for impoverished families trying to transfer small rice fields or rural lands.

Committee chairman Panfilo Lacson, meanwhile, cautioned against proposals to accept barangay certifications in lieu of official Philippine Statistics Authority death certificates for heirs residing in remote areas.

“In very remote areas, they don’t know how to get death certificate. So what happens, (they get) certification of barangay chairman after attestation by two disinterested persons,” Lacson explained. 

“To my mind, this is too subjective and it could lead to fake deaths for inheritance.”

To ensure the government actually secures its revenues, Lacson also proposed a stricter cutoff mechanism for the amnesty availment period, which the DOF proposed to end on June 30, 2028.