NO ONE TO CALL

Once upon a time, a sale transaction had just closed, and the buyer’s broker was tasked to handle the title transfer.

During the BIR stage, the property was classified as an ordinary asset because it was used for business, which meant the sale was subject to VAT.

But that wasn’t the horror story.

The buyer’s broker raised the issue with the seller’s broker.

No reply. She followed up again. Still no reply.

Eventually, she found out why.

The seller’s broker had passed away.

...and that created a serious problem.

The buyer’s broker now had to raise a tax issue directly with the seller, except she had no way to contact the seller because all communication had been coursed through the seller’s broker.

So instead of simply processing the title transfer, the buyer’s broker had to start tracing the seller, looking for contact details, and figuring out how to explain a tax issue that surfaced after closing.

This is one of those risks people rarely think about.