The Marcos family owes the Philippine tax collector nearly $4 billion The Philippines’ incoming tax chief, Lilia Guillermo, said she intends to collect long-standing estate taxes from the family of President-elect Ferdinand Marcos Jr. existing problems. Ironically, Guillermo, who was named head of the IRS by Marcos Jr., told ABS-CBN News in a June 22 interview that “there is no doubt” that the agency will collect controversial tax payments. obligation. However, she…
The Philippines’ incoming tax chief, Lilia Guillermo, said she intends to collect long-standing estate taxes from the family of President-elect Ferdinand Marcos Jr. existing problems.
Ironically, Guillermo was appointed by Marcos Jr. to serve as IRS head in his incoming administration, he told ABS-CBN News In a June 22 interview, there was “no doubt” that the agency would collect the controversial tax liability.
However, she explained that she would need to see and examine the respective court documents first to determine whether the Marcos family’s estate tax was indeed 203 billion pesos ($3.7 billion). If all taxes do need to be collected, she said she would tell Marcos Jr. to be a “role model” for taxpayers and settle the bill.
Court rulings dating back to 1997
In 1997, the Supreme Court ordered the heirs of the late Philippine dictator Ferdinand Marcos to pay 23 billion pesos ($421 million) in estate taxes. The order became final and enforced in March 1999. Due to accumulated fines and surcharges, the total is currently estimated to have reached about 203 billion pesos.
Guillermo added that if the amount is “final and enforceable,” the IRS will carry out its task of collecting the tax debt.
“Pending issues,” Marcos Jr. said.
The Marcos campaign said during the presidential campaign that the tax issue “remains up in the courts” and that a fair tax base for calculating liability arising from the late dictator’s estate could not be determined in practice.
Guillermo, an assistant central bank governor who spent 30 years at the Internal Revenue Service, was nominated to head the tax agency on the recommendation of incoming Treasury secretary and outgoing central bank governor Benjamin Diokno.
The Philippines’ past tax chiefs have tried to recover the debt, sending an updated written demand to Marcos’ heirs in December to no avail.
