DEPARTMENT OF FINANCE 

 

The Department of Finance (DOF) issued Revenue Regulations (RR) No. 6-2017, 25 September 2017, to amend certain provisions of RR No. 7-2014, as amended by RR No. 9-2015, requiring the affixture of new internal revenue stamps on imported and locally manufactured cigarettes, whether for domestic sale or for export, and the use of the internal revenue stamp integrated system (IRSIS) for its ordering, distribution and monitoring.

The definition for Internal Revenue Stamp has been amended, noting that it now comes in five (5) different color designs, and bears a unitary tax rate for locally manufactured cigarettes; or imported cigarettes or for export. The Internal Revenue Stamps may be ordered in banderols or pre-cut/stack or in sheets.

The price of internal revenue stamps has been increased to fifteen centavos (P0.15) per piece of internal revenue stamp, which shall be affixed at the upper portion of the immediate container of the cigarettes. Packages containing cigarettes packed in five (5) sticks and/or ten (10) sticks bundled in packs of twenties (20s) and other packaging combinations of not more than twenty (20) shall be taxed as one, but, the internal revenue stamps affixed to these cigarettes shall be equivalent to the number of packs bundled together.

All locally, manufactured packs of cigarettes to be removed from place of production shall be affixed with new internal revenue stamps until 1 January 2018. As to imported cigarettes, the new internal revenue stamps shall be affixed, effective 1 June 2018, otherwise, no importation and subsequent release of cigarette from customs house shall be allowed. Moreover, effective 1 September 2018, all cigarettes manufactured in the Philippines and / or imported in the Philippines found in the market shall be affixed with the new stamps.

The RR shall take effect fifteen (15) days after publication in any leading newspaper of general circulation.

(RGM&Co. Note: The RR was published on 14 October 2017 in the Manila Bulletin)

 

BUREAU OF INTERNAL REVENUE

 

The Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) issued the following:

Revenue Memorandum Order (RMO) No. 28-2017, 25 April 2017, to amend the reportorial requirements under RMO No. 42-2016 for the implementation of Republic Act No. 9505 [Personal Equity Retirement Account (PERA) Act of 2008].

The reports required under Annex "B" of RMO No. 42-2016 have been reduced from fifteen (15) to three (3), as follows:

1. Quarterly Report on PERA Contributions;

2. Alpha List of PERA Contributors; and

3. Quarterly Report on PERA Distributions and Early Withdrawals.

RMO No. 28-2017 was also issued to revise BIR Form No. 2338 (Certification of Aggregate Amount of Qualified PERA Contribution) and BIR Form No. 2339 (Certification of Entitlement to 5% Tax Credit for Employee Contribution) under Annexes “E” and “E-1”, respectively, of RMO No. 42-2016.

RMO No. 28-2017 shall take effect immediately.

Revenue Memorandum Circular (RMC) No. 89-2017, 20 October 2017, amending the procedure to process claims for issuance of Tax Refund/Tax Credit Certificates (TCC) and authorize Revenue Officials to approve and issue TCCs for value-added tax (VAT) and income tax claims.

1. Claims for VAT refund/TCC by direct exporters

a. All claims by direct exporters shall be filed with and processed by the VAT Credit Audit Division (VCAD), except for taxpayers under the jurisdiction of the Large Taxpayers Service (LTS), who have the option to file with the concerned LT Division where they are registered or with the VCAD.

b. The electronic Letters of Authority (eLAs) involving claims filed with the VCAD shall be approved and signed by the Assistant Commissioner - Assessment Service (ACIR - AS).

c. All claims processed by the VCAD shall be reviewed by the Tax Audit Review Division (TARD) prior to approval of the claim.

d. The following are the authorized approving revenue officials:

Amount Claimed	Amount Granted	Approving Official
Not more than PHP75 Million	Below P50 Million	ACIR-AS
More than P75 Million up to P150 Million	P50 Million up to P100 Million	Deputy Commissioner-Operations Group (DCIR-OG) or if no DCIR-OG is appointed, the Commissioner of Internal Revenue (CIR)
More than P150 Million	More than P100	CIR

2. Income and other tax claims filed with the Revenue District Offices (RDOs), including VAT refund/TCC claims of indirect exporters.

a. All claims filed with and processed by the RDO shall be reviewed by the concerned Assessment Division prior to transmittal to the Regional Director.

b. Claims not exceeding P10 Million shall be approved by Regional Director (RD). Claims exceeding P10 Million shall be recommended for approval by the RD and forwarded to TARD for further review in accordance with the threshold amounts for direct exporters.

3. Existing claims from Regional Offices amounting to more than 1M in the possession of the National Office at the time of approval of this RMC shall be acted upon in accordance with the threshold amounts for direct exporters.

4. Timeframe for processing of claims:

a. The 120-day period prescribed under Section 112(C) of the Tax Code, as amended, shall start from the actual date of filling of the application.

b. For claims processed by the RDO amounting to more than Php10M and all claims processed by the VCAD, the docket of the claims shall be endorsed/forwarded to the TARD for review within eighty (80) calendar days from filing of the applicatiln, regardless of the date when the eLA was issued.

c. TARD shall forward claim to the approving official not later than one hundred (100) days from filing of the application, and the approving official shall act on the claim no later than 120th day from receipt of the application by the processing offices.

RMC No. 90-2017, 30 October 2017, to amend the mandatory requirements for one-time transactions provided in RMO No. 15-2003.

The RMC provides that securing a Taxpayer Identification Number (TIN) prior to the application of Electronic Certificate Authorizing Registration is one of the mandatory requirements for taxpayers with the following transactions:

1. Donor's Tax - TIN of donee/s

2. Estate Tax - TIN of heir/s

3. Sale of Shares of Stock - TIN of buyer/s

 

Full text of the issuance are attached for reference.

Revenue Memorandum Circular No. 89-2017

Revenue Memorandum Circular No. 90-2017

Revenue Memorandum Order No. 28-2017

Revenue Regulation No. 6-2017