President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has officially signed the Republic Act No. 11976, also known as the Ease of Paying Taxes Act, into law. This legislation aims to enhance government revenue collection by implementing digitalization initiatives. It introduced administrative tax reforms and amended various sections of the National Internal Revenue Code of 1997. Additionally, it modernizes the Philippine taxation system by adopting best practices and replacing outdated procedures.
RA 11976 encompasses several salient features, including classifying taxpayers into micro, small, medium, and large categories. It allows for electronic or manual filing of returns and tax payments to the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR), authorized agent banks, or authorized tax software providers. Taxpayers also have the option to remit internal revenue taxes to the City or Municipal Treasurer. Moreover, the law eliminates the distinction between documentation and the basis of sales for goods and services, and it classifies VAT refund claims into low, medium, and high-risk categories.
Ensuring accessibility, the law provides registration facilities for non-Philippine resident taxpayers and supports them in tax processes. It focuses on streamlining procedures, reducing documentary requirements, and digitalizing BIR services by developing the Ease of Paying Taxes and Digitalization Roadmap. Additionally, the law imposes a 180-day timeframe for processing claims for the refund of erroneous or illegal tax collections. It increases the mandatory issuance of receipts for each sale and transfer of goods and services from PHP100 to PHP500. RA 11976 also mandates the BIR to adopt an integrated digitalization strategy. This involves providing end-to-end solutions for taxpayers, such as implementing integrated and automated systems for basic tax services, establishing electronic and online systems for data exchange, streamlining procedures through automation, and enhancing the BIR’s technological capabilities.
Consequently, BIR will cease collecting the Annual Registration Fee (ARF) from business taxpayers in compliance with the RA 11976 effective 22 January 2023. Business taxpayers are exempt from filing BIR form No. 0605 and paying the PHP500 ARF every year on or before January 31. Those with an existing BIR Certificate of Registration (COR) that includes the registration fee will retain its validity. These taxpayers may choose to update/replace their COR at their convenience. This can be done at the Revenue District Office, where they are registered on or before 31 December 2024, by surrendering their old COR. For more details: https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1216498https://ptvnews.ph/pbbm-signs-ease-of-paying-taxes-into-law/https://www.bir.gov.ph/index.php/home.html. PLM