TAX AMNESTY BILL FILED ANEW
For: CustomsWeek Desk
attn: Inday Varona
c/o Bobby Nazareno
--------------------------
by: Terence Mordeno Grana
A proposal which seeks to grant tax amnesty on all unpaid internal revenue taxes imposed by the national government for taxable year 1997 and prior years by requiring the taxpayer the filing of statement of assets, liabilities and net worth (SALN), thereby maximizing the collection of revenues, has been filed again at the House of Representative on August 12, 1998.
Reps. Danilo Suarez of Quezon, Joey Sarte Salceda of Albay and Ma. Catalina Loreto-Go of Leyte filed House Bill No. 2149 which envisions an honest-to-goodness tax amnesty program whereby all persons concerned shall be afforded to come up with a clean slate by making a true and faithful statement of their true and correct networth as of December 31, 1997 and paying the prescribed amnesty tax in order to earn the full benefits of the program which include among others, immunity from civil, criminal, or administrative penalties arising from the failure to pay any and all internal revenue taxes for taxable year 1997 and prior years.
Rep. Suarez, the principal author of the bill and the current chair of the committee on ways and means, stated in a meeting held last week said that in his proposal, those who may avail of the tax amnesty program should be given the option to choose whether the basis of taxation would be their net worth or untaxed income. However, he pointed out that the applicants who want to avail of the program should be required to file their statement of assets, liabilities and net worth as of December 31, 1997.
In the same meeting, Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) Commissioner Beethoven Rualo who was invited as a resource person, however declared that the use of the previously untaxed income as basis of taxation would be highly discretionary on the part of the government since the taxpayers can declare their income not proportionate to their net worth. Furthermore, he said that such procedure might be tedious for the collectors thus posing problems in validating the declared figures of the taxpayer.
He also said that the assets presented in the SALN shall be presumed true and correct and since this disclosure would be purely voluntary, it should not be considered a violation of the Bank Secrecy Law. He further said that absolute amnesty should only be granted when the taxpayer has already paid the full amount of taxes that should be collected from him. If the amount of tax due is substantial, he said, a taxpayer availing of the amnesty may pay in installment or may extend the payment of tax, subject to the approval by the Secretary of Finance.
Meanwhile, the committee decided to wait for the referral of similar bills filed to have a thorough deliberation on the proposed imposition of the tax amnesty scheme.
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attn: Inday Varona
c/o Bobby Nazareno
--------------------------
by: Terence Mordeno Grana
A proposal which seeks to grant tax amnesty on all unpaid internal revenue taxes imposed by the national government for taxable year 1997 and prior years by requiring the taxpayer the filing of statement of assets, liabilities and net worth (SALN), thereby maximizing the collection of revenues, has been filed again at the House of Representative on August 12, 1998.
Reps. Danilo Suarez of Quezon, Joey Sarte Salceda of Albay and Ma. Catalina Loreto-Go of Leyte filed House Bill No. 2149 which envisions an honest-to-goodness tax amnesty program whereby all persons concerned shall be afforded to come up with a clean slate by making a true and faithful statement of their true and correct networth as of December 31, 1997 and paying the prescribed amnesty tax in order to earn the full benefits of the program which include among others, immunity from civil, criminal, or administrative penalties arising from the failure to pay any and all internal revenue taxes for taxable year 1997 and prior years.
Rep. Suarez, the principal author of the bill and the current chair of the committee on ways and means, stated in a meeting held last week said that in his proposal, those who may avail of the tax amnesty program should be given the option to choose whether the basis of taxation would be their net worth or untaxed income. However, he pointed out that the applicants who want to avail of the program should be required to file their statement of assets, liabilities and net worth as of December 31, 1997.
In the same meeting, Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) Commissioner Beethoven Rualo who was invited as a resource person, however declared that the use of the previously untaxed income as basis of taxation would be highly discretionary on the part of the government since the taxpayers can declare their income not proportionate to their net worth. Furthermore, he said that such procedure might be tedious for the collectors thus posing problems in validating the declared figures of the taxpayer.
He also said that the assets presented in the SALN shall be presumed true and correct and since this disclosure would be purely voluntary, it should not be considered a violation of the Bank Secrecy Law. He further said that absolute amnesty should only be granted when the taxpayer has already paid the full amount of taxes that should be collected from him. If the amount of tax due is substantial, he said, a taxpayer availing of the amnesty may pay in installment or may extend the payment of tax, subject to the approval by the Secretary of Finance.
Meanwhile, the committee decided to wait for the referral of similar bills filed to have a thorough deliberation on the proposed imposition of the tax amnesty scheme.
- 30 -
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7/19/2006 09:35:00 AM
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