Government eyes P27.5 B revenue from Tax Amnesty Law

MANILA, Philippines — The newly enacted Tax Amnesty Law is expected to raise P27.541 billion in additional revenues for the government this year, according to the Department of Finance (DOF).

In a presentation before the Tax Management Association of the Philippines (TMAP), Finance Undersecretary Mark Dennis Joven said Republic Act 11213 is expected to increase revenue by P27.541 billion once the estate tax amnesty program and amnesty on tax delinquencies are implemented.

The bulk or P21.26 billion of the amount is estimated to come from the tax amnesty program for delinquencies, while the remaining P6.28 billion may be captured through the estate tax amnesty program.

However, Joven said the expected revenue from the law is 56.63 percent lower than the P63.5 billion initially expected by the DOF under the original proposal.

This is likewise lower than the P34.341 billion projected incremental collection under the version ratified by Congress.

“We can see that the DOF bill provides substantial revenue for the government. When there came the enrolled bill, because of certain relaxation of administrative processes and because of that one-time settlement of estate tax, there was a decrease in the estimated tax take to around half of the original estimation,” Joven said.

“Afterwards, when it became a law, (projected revenues) became even lower because of the vetoed general tax amnesty,” he said.

The bicameral conference committee approved the Tax Amnesty Bill in December last year, but it lacked the provisions on the relaxation of the Bank Secrecy Law and the automatic exchange of information, as proposed by the DOF.

Due to the lack of these measures, President Duterte last Feb. 14 signed the law, but line vetoed the provisions on general tax amnesty.

Hence, this left only the estate tax amnesty and tax amnesty on delinquencies to be implemented.

According to Joven, the DOF, Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) and the Bureau of Customs have already formed technical working groups to draft the guidelines for the two amnesty programs.

“The implementing agencies are given by law 90 days to ensure the issuance of the proper regulations for the amnesties,” Joven said.

“So these should set out the procedures and the applicable forms to be used by amnesty availers. Groups were also formed to guarantee that there is sufficient tax payer education and information dissemination mechanisms and to also ensure that the BIR’s ID system is ready receive amnesty information and payments,” he said.