The Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) is advising the general public to file their income tax returns on or before the April 15 deadline for income earned during the calendar year ending Dec. 31 2013.
Filing of ITRs need not be a daunting task for taxpayers as long as they have their records in order and they follow the filing guidelines from the BIR, according to Cheryl Villacortes of Punongbayan & Araullo’s tax advisory and compliance division.
Find below the guidelines to make the filing of your ITRs easy and hassle-free.
1. Use of the new ITR forms. For this filing season, taxpayers are required to use the June 2013 enhanced version of the ITR as prescribed by Revenue Regulations No. (RR) 2-2014.
Except for some enhancements, the ITR forms remain the same for individuals earning purely compensation income (BIR Form 1700) and for self-employed individuals, estates and trusts (BIR Form 1701).
For corporations, partnerships, and other non-individual taxpayers, the forms to be used shall be BIR Form 1702-RT if taxable income for the year is subject only to the regular income tax rate; BIR Form 1702-EX if taxpayer is exempt under the Tax Code and other special laws, with no other taxable income; or BIR Form 1702-MX for taxpayers with mixed income subject to multiple income tax rates or with income subject to special/preferential rate.
2. Modes of preparation and filing. The continuous enhancement and development of electronic services (e-Services) by the BIR has brought about the use of Electronic BIR Forms (eBIRForms) as an additional mode of filing for non-eFPS (non-Electronic Filing and Payment System) taxpayers pursuant to Revenue Memorandum Order No. (RMO) 24-2013 in relation to Revenue Memorandum Circular No. (RMC) 61-2012.
Non-eFPS taxpayers now have the option to either prepare the ITRs manually through pre-printed forms/printed downloadable PDF/Excel forms available at the BIR Web site, or electronically through the eBIRForms Offline Package v4.1 (with Annual ITRs v2013 ENCS).
The advantage of using the eBIRForms Offline Package is its capability to automatically compute the taxes due as well as validate the information provided by the taxpayers. Thus, ITR preparation becomes a breeze for those who opt to do it electronically. Upon downloading the eBIRForms package from the BIR Web site, taxpayers are guided through the process by the detailed instructions that come with it.
After filling up the electronic ITR form, the taxpayer can validate, edit, submit, save, print and produce a final copy of the form. Submission of these forms will only be allowed after the form has been completed and validated. Once validated, the taxpayer may now submit online either through the e-Submission or eFPS facility of the BIR.
However, for the time being, online submission is not yet available for ITRs generated from the eBIRForms offline package. Hence, non-eFPS taxpayers are required to submit manually to the BIR the printed copy of the computer-generated ITR with the following specifications: folio size bondpaper (8.5” x 13”), portrait orientation/layout with the following margins: left, 0.146 inches; right, 0.148 inches; top, 0.14 inches; and bottom, 0.14 inches. The printed ITR forms should be originally signed by the taxpayer or his/her authorized representative pursuant to Bank Bulletin No. (BB) 2014-08 in relation to RMC 61-2012.
3. Modes of payment. Payment of the income tax may either be manual or electronic for non-eFPS taxpayers. Manual payment will be made through any Authorized Agent Bank (AAB) within the jurisdiction of their registered Revenue District Office (RDO) or the Revenue Collection Officers (RCOs), as applicable. On the other hand, electronic payment can be made via mobile phone through G-Cash for tax returns not exceeding P10,000 as prescribed by RMO 20-2005.
Payments with the AABs will be accepted until 5:00 p.m., April 1-15, to better serve the needs of the taxpayers during this income tax filing season. Two or more checks and/or a combination of cash and checks in paying for a single tax liability will be allowed pursuant to RR 16-2002.
For ITRs without payment, it shall be filed at the respective RDO having jurisdiction over the taxpayer.
4. Receiving rules of the ITR. Only three copies of the returns are allowed to be stamped “received” with the official BIR seal by all AABs. However, for those filing with BIR Revenue Region No. 2 (Cordillera Administrative Region), Revenue Region No. 7 (Quezon City) and Revenue Region No. 9 (San Pablo City), only two copies of the ITRs shall be received.
In the case of corporations and other juridical persons who are required to file with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), two extra copies of the audited financial statements for filing with the SEC shall be stamped “received”. The BIR seal shall only be stamped on the page of the Audit Certificate, Balance Sheet and the Income Statement. Other pages of the financial statement and its attachments shall not be stamped.--Source: Business World Online