DOF to push for reinclusion of removed Package 1B provisions

FILE: Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III at the 51st Asian Development Bank Annual Meeting on May 25, 2018 (Photo; Department of Finance/Facebook)

MANILA — The Department of Finance (DOF) vowed to exhaust all means to reinclude the provisions on exchange of information, as well as on bank secrecy, in the proposed Package 1B of the tax reform measure, to give the government more teeth in pursuing tax cheats.

This, after reports circulated that these two provisions have been removed from the proposed measure by a House of Representatives committee on Monday and the Senate during its plenary session on Tuesday.

“Yes, we will push to reinstate (the said provision),” Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III told reporters in a Viber message.

“We trust that the Legislature will recognize the necessity of strengthening the law to enhance the Administration’s ability to enforce the tax laws, which were passed by them in the first place,” he added.

The proposed Package 1B of the tax reform program aims to implement tax amnesty to bolster collections and correct past inequities in taxation.

The last time the government implemented a tax amnesty program was in 2008, during which about PHP13 billion was collected.

Dominguez earlier said that relaxing the bank secrecy law makes it easier for courts to subpoena bank accounts as evidence in tax evasion cases, not only in those involving public officials but to include private individuals.

The Philippines is among the few countries in the world that has a Bank Secrecy Law, known here as Republic Act No. 1405 or The Law on Secrecy of Bank Deposits.

The law, approved on Sept. 9, 1955, ensures secrecy of bank deposits and prohibits bank personnel from disclosing any information about a bank account holder unless required by a court or the depositor has issued a waiver.