Bureau of Local Government Finance Opinion

August 2, 2001 BUREAU OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT FINANCE OPINION 1st Indorsement Respectfully returned to the Provincial Assessor, Iba, Zambales, his within letter dated June 29, 2001 requesting guidelines on the delegation of authority to the Municipal Assessors of that province concerning the approval of tax declarations of real properties. The request was prompted by Resolution No. 01, series of 2001, of the Municipal Assessor's League of the Province of Zambales requesting the Provincial Assessor to abide by the provisions of the Local Government Code particularly on the approval and release of tax declarations to taxpayers in all the municipalities of Zambales. In this connection, attention is invited to BLGF Memorandum Circular No. 01-98 dated January 27, 1998, copy enclosed, the pertinent portion of which states as follows: "It is worthwhile to mention, that this Department, in its letter dated December 6, 1994 further clarified that 'only provincial assessors are authorized to a) approve/issue tax declarations; b) delegate to the municipal assessors within his jurisdiction the approval/issuance of tax declarations with certain limitations. Tax declarations issued/approved by municipal assessors without authorization/proper delegation from his Provincial Assessor are, therefore, not valid and the same could not be considered as official assessment records, hence, collection of real property taxes could not be based therefrom." The Provincial and Municipal Treasurers are, therefore, hereby enjoined to ensure that all real property tax collections are based on valid and authorized real property assessments as clarified in the abovecited letters dated December 6, 1994 and September 5, 1997 of the Department of Finance. cHaICD Be guided accordingly. (SGD.) BENJAMIN A. GERONIMO Executive Director