Recto calls on ex-Senate ‘classmates’ to pass estate tax amnesty bill
Taxpayers flock to a BIR office along Quezon Avenue in Quezon City for the last day and deadline of filing of income tax. (INQUIRER file photo/EDWIN BACASMAS)
MANILA, Philippines — Batangas 6th District Rep. Ralph Recto has appealed to his former ‘classmates’ in the Senate to start tackling and eventually pass a bill that would extend the deadline of estate tax payments.
Recto, a former senator, said Senate and House of Representatives can pass a bill pushing for estate tax amnesty before Congress goes on a sine die adjournment on June 3, 2023.
Both the Senate and the House resumed their session on Monday.
Lawmakers can hold sessions until June 2 — which, Recto believes, is enough time to pass such a proposal.
The senator pointed out the deadline for estate tax payments would be on June 14, or when Congressional sessions have adjourned.
“When it resumes session on May 8, both chambers of Congress have 12 session days before it adjourns anew by the end of the month,” Recto said on Sunday.
“Under the estate tax amnesty law, the period to avail of the benefits expires on June 14, ‘which means the clock is ticking’,” he added.
At the House of Representatives, the committee on ways and means approved on April 25, 2023 a consolidated version of the bill extending estate tax amnesty — which, if enacted, would push the deadline to June 14, 2025.
Committee chair and Albay 2nd District Rep. Joey Salceda said the approval of the bill is important since a lot of families have failed to settle the estate of their deceased relatives.
This makes the provision of additional time necessary.
According to the lawmaker, there are families who struggle with filing required documents.
Some also fail to comply with cash requirements.
Others may have been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic which hit the country in 2020.
READ: House panel approves bill extending estate tax amnesty
READ: Extension of estate tax amnesty pushed
There are around 12 session days between Monday and June 2.
Recto believes the measure will be passed even without a certification from President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. that the bill is urgent.
With reports from Aliah Gumasing, trainee
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