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Tax Notes

Relaxed rules on receipt or invoicing requirements during ECQ

THE Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) has issued Revenue Memorandum Circular (RMC) 41-2020 to relax the regulations on expired or expiring principal and supplementary receipts or invoices and authority to print (ATP). ATP applications and the use of expired principal and supplementary receipts or invoices have been extended without penalties, provided that:

The taxpayer is unable to apply for a new ATP due to the ECQ, or the application has been filed and received, but receipts or invoices have not yet been delivered due to the ECQ.

Receipts or invoices to be issued or used shall be stamped as “Emergency Extension for Use Until May 13, 2020.” If the ECQ is extended, as is the case for Cebu City, the date shall be 30 days after the last day of the ECQ or June 30, 2020.

The extension of the ECQ, however, has caused difficulties in issuing receipts and invoices, particularly for essential businesses that continue to operate during the ECQ. To address this concern, the BIR has issued RMC 47-2020, which allows the use of temporary receipts or invoices under the following cases:

Manually issued receipts or invoices are unavailable due to the expiration of the ATP receipts or invoices during the ECQ;

Manually issued receipts or invoices with an ATP or computer-generated receipts invoices with an approved permit to use or an acknowledgment certificate, whichever is applicable, are not accessible due to the closure of business establishments;

Mailing or sending issued receipts or invoices through postal services is impossible due to the non-observance of standard operating hours;

Sending or receiving duly authorized receipts or invoices at the business of the seller or the customer is unlikely due to the closure of most business establishments; and

Company personnel needed to scan the receipts or invoices are unavailable.

Existing tax rules and regulations provide that it is necessary to issue receipts or invoices with the requirements set by the BIR. For manual receipts or invoices, the requirements include a valid ATP. For computer-generated receipts, on the other hand, the requirements include an approved permit to use [Revenue Memorandum Order (RMO) 29-2002] or an acknowledgment certification (RMO 10-2020)

As such, the BIR suggests using the following alternatives:

BIR-printed receipts or invoices according to RMC 28-2019, as amended;

Scanned copy of receipt or invoice with an ATP, which shall be sent electronically to the customer in .jpeg, .pdf, or any equivalent format;

Computer-aided receipt or invoice in Excel file format not covered by an ATP, which shall be sent electronically in the file format prescribed under RMC 47-2020;

Supplementary receipts or invoices to be issued in place of the principal receipt or invoice;

Receipt or invoice using existing computerized accounting system (CAS) with an approved permit to use or an acknowledgment certificate; however, the said receipt or invoice shall be sent electronically in a file format prescribed under RMC 47-2020; or

Receipt or invoice generated by newly developed receipting or invoicing software or a CAS with a duly approved permit to use or acknowledgment certificate, which was used to create or issue the receipts or invoices temporarily. The receipt or invoice shall be sent electronically to the customer in .jpeg or .pdf file format.

To effectively adopt any of the workaround measures described above, strictly observe the following guidelines:

Submit a formal letter to the BIR on the implemented procedures within three days from the effectivity of RMC 47-2020 (May 6, 2020) with the following information:

Name of taxpayer

Registered address

Tax Identification Number

Temporary invoicing measures the taxpayer will adopt during the ECQ and the serial numbers of the invoices or receipts to be issued;

A statement that the taxpayer is amenable to a post-verification of reported sales during the ECQ, as ordered by the Commissioner of Internal Revenue

Signature of the taxpayer or authorized representative and their designation

The letter must be emailed to the following: (see table)

Upon lifting of the ECQ, taxpayers must provide or issue duly authorized receipts or invoices to their customers to cover all sales issued with temporary receipts or invoices under RMC 47-2020. These receipts or invoices are to be prioritized over current transactions. Indicate the actual transaction date on the authorized manual receipt or invoices; attach a copy of the temporary receipt for audit purposes.

For taxpayers who use a CAS where it automatically indicates the transaction date, show the actual transaction date on the receipt or invoice in any manner feasible. Consequently, these invoices or receipts will not be considered out-of-period.

A summary of temporary receipts or invoices issued shall be emailed to the respective RDO within 90 days from the date of the lifting of the ECQ.

Please be guided accordingly.

Source:

P&A Grant Thornton

 

As published in SunStar Cebu, dated 27 May 2020