The new Estate Tax Amnesty Extension Act is expected to benefit around 920,000 Filipino families with unsettled estates, a House of Representatives leader said on Tuesday.

Committee on Ways and Means chair Joey Salceda said the bill extending the period of availment of the estate tax amnesty until June 14, 2025 had lapsed into law as Republic Act (RA) No. 11956.

“Estate Tax Amnesty Extension is now a law, as RA 11956. Palace informed my office this afternoon. I thank President (Ferdinand R.) Marcos (Jr.) and I congratulate Speaker Romualdez, the leading driver of this measure, for another accomplishment,” Salceda said in a statement on Tuesday.

If the President does not act on a proposed law submitted by Congress, it will lapse into law after 30 days from receipt.

He said the new law is a “perfect fit” with President Marcos’s New Agrarian Emancipation Act (RA No. 11953), noting that it will benefit some 920,000 Filipino families who have unsettled estates, including the 610,054 agrarian reform beneficiaries recently released from debt.

“The amnesty is also consistent with the full estate tax forgiveness envisioned under the New Agrarian Emancipation Act, which was PBBM’s most significant legislative accomplishment on his first year,” Salceda said.

Salceda pointed out that RA 11956 covers the unsettled estates of decedents who died on or before May 31, 2022.

The law also provides for electronic filing of estate tax amnesty applications and limits the number of documents required for filing.

The law shortened the period for issuing the implementing rules and regulations to 30 days from 60 days. Estate tax amnesty applications can also be filed electronically.

“It has many improvements compared to the previous Estate Tax Amnesty, especially as it makes the administrative requirements for filing much easier to comply with,” Salceda said.

Aside from the estate tax amnesty extension, he noted that “there is a pipeline of measures” that the House already approved, awaiting Senate approval.

“We will likely see at least two more pro-taxpayer laws enacted this year, including the Ease of Paying Taxes Law and the Taxpayer Bill of Rights. This will create the necessary balance between raising revenues for government programs and making the taxpayer experience less burdensome,” he said. (PNA)

Photo credit: Office of Rep. Joey Sarte Salceda