THE Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) issued Revenue Memorandum Circular No. 36-2012 dated August 3, 2012 clarifying whether documents mentioned in Section 199 of the Tax Code are subject to the documentary stamp tax of P15 as prescribed in Section 188 of said Code.
The Documentary Stamp Tax (DST) is a tax upon documents, instruments, loan agreements ad papers, and upon acceptances, assignments, sales, and transfers of the obligation, right or property incident thereto.
It must be stressed that the DST are levied on the exercise by persons of certain privileges conferred by law for the creation, revision, or termination of specific legal relationship through the execution of specific documents.
If that documents or instruments do not clearly partake of the nature, elements, and the form of any of the specific instruments mentioned in Title VII of the Tax Code, then Section 188 of the Tax Code which imposes a DST of P15 will apply.
exempt
Only instruments, documents, and papers of transactions expressly enumerated in Section 199 of the Tax Code, as amended, are exempt from the documentary stamp tax.
Consequently, certificates, and other necessary documents issued by the Construction Industry Authority of the Philippines are not among those mentioned in Section 199 of the Tax Code, and the following documents per the BIR are therefore subject to the DST of P15:
(1) Certificate of Registration of Overseas Contractors;
(2) Certificate of Renewal of Registration of Overseas Contractors;
(3) Contractor’s License;
(4) Certificate of whether a certain contractor is licensed;
(5) Certified true copies of license certificates;
(6) Certified true copies of documents such as Affidavit of Undertaking of Sustaining Technical Employee (STE) and Curriculum Vitae of STE;
(7) Certificate of Accreditation of Arbitrators and;
(8) Case documents to be used to support petition to appeal in the Court of Appeals.
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