COVID-19: BIR Releases Consolidated List of Extensions & Clarifies eFPS Penalties – 3 April 2020

The Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) has released new Regulations that include the list of extensions for statutory tax filing and payment deadline dates in March and April. The list effectively consolidates the various BIR issuances since COVID-19 first started impacting compliance obligations for businesses in the Philippines.

The BIR has also released a new Advisory in order to clarify the BIR’s position on the automatic computation of penalties under the eFPS filing system for taxpayers in the Philippines.

Here are the key points of information to consider under these new BIR issuances.

1. BIR – Revenue Regulations No. 7 – 2020

This week, the BIR released Revenue Regulations No. 7 – 2020. These Regulations have been released pursuant to Section 4(z) of Republic Act No. 11469, otherwise known as “Bayanihan to Heal as One Act”. This Act declared a state of national emergency in the Philippines in response to COVID-19.

Key points of information:

• BIR RR No.7-2020 has been issued to provide relief for taxpayers in the Philippines who are unable to submit, file or pay the necessary documents and/or taxes and ensure compliance with their tax filing obligations during the current state of national emergency across the country.

• RR No.7-2020 effectively consolidates the recent BIR issuances over the past number of weeks in response to COVID-19. For a concise analysis of each of these previous BIR issuances, check out our COVID-19 Updates Resource.

• The deadline extensions apply to both eFPS and non-eFPS filers in the Philippines.

• The Regulations extend various deadlines for filings and payments with original due dates ranging between 16 March 2020 to 15 April 2020.

• The deadline extensions provided by the BIR cover filings and payments across a range of areas, including: VAT, Withholding Tax, Capital Gains Tax, Summary List of Sales and Purchases, Audited Financial Statements, Annual Income Tax Return, Compensation Payments, Documentary Stamp Tax (DST) and many more.

• Click HERE to access the full list of extended filing and payment deadline dates under Revenue Regulations No. 7-2020.

2. BIR Advisory – eFPS Facility

The BIR has also released a new Advisory regarding the automatic imposition of penalties by the eFPS system when taxpayers are filing in accordance with extended deadlines that have not yet been recognized by the eFPS system.

The BIR notes that the eFPS system will automatically compute penalties as it will assume the filings are late, despite the actual deadlines being extended by the BIR.

Taxpayers are therefore advised by the BIR to disregard these penalties computed by the eFPS system and just pay the basic tax due – provided obviously that the payments have been made on or before the extended filing date!

The BIR notes that payments or filings submitted after any extended deadline date will be subject to penalties as computed by the eFPS system.

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