Collection of the State and Inheritance Taxes

November 4, 1960 BIR RULING NO. 486-60 Mr. M. C. Gutierrez 490 San Luis, Ermita M a n i l a S i r : Reference is made to your letter of the 31st ultimo, requesting information whether or not, under the following circumstances, the estate and inheritance taxes due on the properties purchased by your client still constitute valid liens thereon: "A resident alien died sometime in April, 1949, in the Philippines, leaving certain real properties located in the Philippines and shares of stock in a domestic corporation to his wife, as his only heir. His wife was, at the time of his death, as nonresident. "Sometime in 1955, the properties inherited by the wife from her deceased husband were transferred to a non-resident. The latter in turn sold the said properties to my client in 1955." In answer thereto, I have the honor to inform you that, since under section 315 of the Tax Code, said taxes shall constitute liens on the estate of a decedent only for five (5) years from the respective dates when they (taxes) become legally due, and considering that from the respective dates when the taxes in this case become legally due up to the year 1959, when the properties were purchased by your client, is well beyond five years, this Office is of the opinion and so holds that the fines in question had already been extinguished. Attention, in this connection, is however invited to sections 104 and 106, in relation to section 107 of the Tax Code, penalizing certain officers and persons for failure to comply with the duties respectively imposed upon them to facilitate collection of the state and inheritance taxes. Very truly yours, MELECIO R. DOMINGO Commissioner of Internal Revenue