Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) Commissioner Romeo D. Lumagui, Jr., in an effort to provide optimal services to taxpayers, authorized the filing and payment of the 2022 Annual Income Tax Return (AITR) ANYWHERE, through Revenue Memorandum Circular (RMC) No. 32-2023.
The RMC provides that taxpayers can now file their 2022 AITR and pay the corresponding taxes due thereon ANYWHERE on or before April 17, 2023, without penalties imposed for wrong venue filing. This is in line with his administration’s agenda to provide Excellent Taxpayer Service.
“I wanted to improve the services that we offer to the taxpaying public. My ultimate goal here is to provide each one of us the luxury of filing and paying our correct taxes at our most convenient time and place without any penalties involved. I am encouraging everyone, avoid the rush! File and pay as early as now before the April 17 deadline”, Commissioner said.
The Commissioner also reminds the public not to use “Ghost Receipts” in their filings. Certified Public Accountants (CPA) involved in these receipts will suffer both the revocation of their license and imprisonment.
The Commissioner has already filed an administrative case for revocation of a CPA’s license last March 21, 2023 and a criminal case for tax evasion against the same CPA last March 16, 2023. The Commissioner reminds the public to scrutinize the unlawful schemes their CPAs might use in illegally lessening their taxes. He warns them that not only will the buyers of said receipts be audited, they also expose themselves to imprisonment through tax evasion.
The RMC also caters to several situations that taxpayers might find themselves in.
Taxpayers who are mandated to use the BIR’s Electronic Filing and Payment System (eFPS) shall file their AITRs electronically and pay the correct taxes due through the eFPS-Authorized Agent Banks (AABs) where they are enrolled. Thus, in cases wherein filing cannot be made through the eFPS, due to specific reasons mentioned in the RMC, taxpayers shall use the eBIRForms in filing their AITR. Hence, the tax returns filed through the latter shall no longer be required to be filed thru the eFPS.
On the other hand, the payment of the taxes due for the electronically filed returns through the eBIRForms may be made through any AABs; Revenue Collection Officers (RCOs) in each Revenue District Offices (RDOs) or through the different Electronic Payment (ePayment) channels of the BIR. These ePayment Channels accept tax payments through the use of either online, credit / debit / prepaid cards, and mobile payments such as GCash, Maya & MyEG.
Link to the ePayment channels is accessible in the BIR website. Likewise, each payment gateways have provided instructional videos to taxpayers, particularly the step-by-step procedures in making their online tax payments so that they can easily navigate the electronic platform they opt to use in paying their taxes.
It is also underscored in the RMC that, “No Payment AITRs” shall also be filed electronically. Taxpayers with “No Payment AITRs” are allowed to MANUALLY file their 2022 AITR, provided that they qualify in any of the following conditions set by the Commissioner himself:
- Senior Citizen (SC) or Persons with Disabilities (PWDs) filing for their own returns;
- Employees deriving purely compensation income from two or more employers, concurrently or successively at any time during the taxable year, or from a single employer, although the income of which has been correctly subjected to withholding tax, but whose spouse is not entitled to substituted filing; and
- Employees qualified for substituted filing (those who are covered by Section 2.83.4 of Revenue Regulations No. 2-98, as amended), but opted to file for an ITR and are filing for purposes of promotion, loans, scholarships, foreign travel requirements, etc.
Taxpayers who qualified under the manual filing of their “No Payment AITRs”, shall prepare the tax returns in triplicate copies using the electronic or computer-generated returns or photocopied returns in its original format in Legal/Folio size bond paper.
Furthermore, the RMC also reminds the taxpayers, who will manually file AITR and pay taxes due thereon through RCOs of the RDO, to pay in cash up to twenty thousand pesos (P20,000.00) only or in check (payable to “Bureau of Internal Revenue”).
As to the submission of the required attachments, Commissioner Lumagui highly advised those who electronically filed their AITRs to utilize the Bureau’s Electronic Audited Financial Statement (eAFS) System in submitting the required attachments. They are also given the option to personally submit it to the LTS/RDO where they are registered within fifteen (15) days from the date of the tax filing deadline.
Meanwhile, for taxpayers who electronically filed their AITRs but there are no attachments required, printed copy of the e-filed tax returns need not to be submitted to the BIR. The generated Filing Reference Number (FRN) from eFPS or the email confirmation from eBIRForms will serve as proof of the electronically filed AITRs.
The Commissioner stressed that only the attachments will be stamped received by the LTS/RDO, and the printed copy of AITR need not be stamped “Received”.
Commissioner Lumagui humbly asked the support of the taxpaying public during the series of tax campaign drives conducted by Revenue Regions, “Samahan niyo kami sa aming adhikain. Ang naatas na collection target ay around approximately P 2.6 Trillion for 2023. This amount will be used for nation-building sa lahat ng proyekto ng ating gobyerno kaya sana po tratuhin po nating lahat, itong amount na ito, na obligasyon nating lahat na taxpayers”.
Image credits: BIR