Guidelines in the Filing and Processing of 2016 Income Tax Returns Including Its Attachments

The bureau has issued Revenue Memorandum Circular (RMC) No. 28-2017 recently in line with the guidelines in the filing, receiving and processing of 2016 Income Tax Returns including its attachments, due on or before April 17, 2017 (since April 15, 2017 falls on a Saturday which is a holiday/non-working day) or on before the 15th day of the fourth month following the close of the taxpayer's taxable year (taxpayers covered by fiscal year).

Manner of Filing of Returns. Taxpayers who are mandated to use eBIRForms/eFPS (Annex "A") under existing issuances, and those who opted to file manually, shall file and pay with the following guidelines:

Optional Manual filing of "No Payment Returns". The following individuals may file manually "No Payment Returns" with the RDO where they are registered using officially printed forms/photocopied or electronic/computer-generated returns:

(1) Senior Citizen (SC) or Persons with Disabilities (PWDs) filing for their own return;

(2) 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;

(3) Employees qualified for substituted filing under RR 2-98 Sec. 2.83.4, as amended, but opted to file for an ITR and are filing for purpose of promotion, loans, scholarship, foreign travel requirements, etc.

Printed Copy of e-Filed Tax Returns. Electronically filed and/or paid ITRs using eBIRForms or eFPS without any attachments required, need not to submit printed copy of e-Filed tax returns to the LTD/RDO.

Required Attachments. The required attachments (Annexes "B1 to B5") and accompanying schedules shall be submitted to the LTD/RDO or AABs located within the territorial jurisdiction of the LTD/RDO where the taxpayer is registered.

Taxpayers who are electronically filed shall also submit a signed copy of electronically filed ITR with Filing Reference Number (FRN) thru eFPS facility or an email Tax Return Receipt Confirmation and a signed copy of electronically filed ITR thru eBIRForms facility, together with the required attachments within fifteen (15) days after the electronic filing of the return.

The Summary Alphalist of Withholding Tax (SAWT) using the Data Entry Module of the BIR shall be emailed to esubmission@bir.gov.ph, if applicable.

Receiving and Stamping. RDOs, LTDs and all AABs shall receive the income tax returns by stamping the official receiving seal on the space provided for in the three (3) copies of the returns, whether or not the taxpayer is under the jurisdiction of a regional office with Document Processing Division (DPD). Any copies of the return in excess of 3 copies shall not be stamped "RECEIVED" by the RDO, LTD and AAB. However, in the case of corporations and other juridical persons, there shall be stamped "RECEIVED" in at least two (2) extra copies of the Audited Financial Statements (AFS) for filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

The attached AFS to the ITR shall be stamped received only on the page of the Audit Certificate, the Statement of Financial Position, the Statement of Comprehensive Income and/or its equivalent and Statement of Management's Responsibility. The other pages of the financial statements and its attachments need not anymore be stamped received.

Supplemental Information. the disclosure of Supplemental Information under BIR Form Nos. 1700 and 1701 is OPTIONAL on the part of the individual taxpayer filing ITR covering and starting with calendar year 2016 due for filing on or before April 17, 2017.

SOURCE: https://www.bir.gov.ph/images/bir_files/internal_communications_2/RMCs/2017/RMC%20No%2028-2017.pdf of the full text of RMC No. 28-2017.