This was apparently the message of top officials of the Department of Finance (DoF) and the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) who held a closed-door meeting yesterday in Makati City to discuss new strategies on how to collect hundreds of millions and even billions of pesos from the heirs of deceased multi-millionaires.

Finance Undersecretary Emmanuel Bonoan called Revenue Deputy Commissioner Licerio Evangelista and Makati Revenue Regional Director Anselmo Adriano to the conference following reports that relatives of rich individuals who died years ago have not paid their estate taxes.

Reports said some of the heirs hurriedly and secretly buried their patriarchs to escape payment of the tax, which is a scheme that is reportedly not happening only in Makati but all over Metro Manila.

Under the Tax Code, the estate tax must be paid within six months after the death of the owner of the inherited property.

The estate tax ranges from five percent of estate worth R500,000 and 20 percent for those in excess of R10 million. A 25 percent surcharge is slapped for late filing and up to 50 percent for non-filing.

Adriano said the collection of estate tax was only one of many issues discussed during the meeting which was called to identify other non-traditional sources of revenues.

Also discussed was the progress of the government’s "Run After Tax Evaders’’ (RATE) program, a joint project of the BIR and DoF.

Adriano refused to give details of the outcome of the talks but informed sources said they also discussed schemes on how to catch professionals evading payment of taxes, particularly doctors who demand exorbitant professional fees from patients but report minimal income to pay little or no taxes at all.

They also allegedly discussed verification of Value-Added Tax compliance of moviehouses and real estate developers and lessors and the possible compromise settlement of the more than R10-billion tax indebtedness of various government entities, including the Philippine Deposit Insurance Corporation.