DOF fine-tuning tax amnesty bill

MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Finance (DOF) is still fine-tuning a proposed tax amnesty bill, which it aims to file with the House of Representatives within the year, according to Finance Undersecretary Rolando Ligon Jr.

“Right now, we are fine-tuning the draft of the proposed  General Tax Amnesty (GTA) bill. We still need more information to ensure the amnesty is successful. We need to address the additional taxes that we need to collect,” Ligon told reporters.

The measure has yet to be filed in Congress, but the agency hopes to submit the bill before the end of the year, with congressional hearings expected to begin next year.

The proposed GTA is among the tax measures mentioned in President Marcos’ State of the Nation Address and identified as one of the legislative priorities.

The proposed amnesty program will cover taxes imposed under the National Internal Revenue Code and administered by the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR).

In 2019, former president Rodrigo Duterte vetoed the general tax amnesty provisions under Republic Act 11213, but retained the estate tax amnesty provisions.

Separately, Ligon said the DOF is studying a voluntary disclosure program for imported vehicles with underpaid taxes, separate from the proposed GTA.

“This is a voluntary disclosure program (admin measure). It is therefore separate from the GTA,” he said.

The proposed Bureau of Customs initiative would address cases involving imported vehicles with misdeclared values or underpaid taxes.

However, the measure remains in its early stages and is still being studied.