I used Atty Mike Miguel when I sold my house and lot after I had moved back to the US. I highly recommend you use an attorney with experience in this to make sure every "I" is dotted and every "T" is crossed.
I forgot to do as I promised, my apologies. I tried to reach agreement in several ways, but even my simple proposal - to withhold the sum of the cap. gains tax from the agreed price until such time as the seller hands the buyer the BIR receipt for said tax while in the event this would not happen before date such and such the buyer would be automatically authorized to go to the BIR and pay the tax themselves - was shot down. Ultimately I walked away from the deal because of this issue (pity, I would have really liked to buy the house).
No it is not, it's been sold to someone else (another foreigner) at a slightly lower price than I had been willing to pay.
In the Philippines for some reason it is next to impossible to get the seller to understand that capital gain tax while negotiable is not the buyer's responsibility. However it seems to become the buyer's responsibility after the sale if not paid and the buyer wants to transfer the property and get title to it.
The consensus seems to be to accept the capital gain tax as the buyers responsibility and factor this into the amount paid for the property.
That is probably the best way but the problem is when the seller wants "X" million pesos for property that you feel is only worth "Y" million pesos and then trying to discount it another 7.5% makes it difficult.
