MANILA, Philippines—The Supreme Court on Tuesday stopped the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) and the Department of Finance (DOF) from requiring lawyers to submit a notarized affidavit of their fixed rate services including issuing a receipt.
Supreme Court Spokesman Theodore Te clarified that the temporary restraining order only covers lawyers since only the Integrated Bar of the Philippines filed a petition before the high court.
In March, the BIR issued a new set of rules covering the service fees of lawyers, doctors and self-employed professionals to disclose their standard service fees to tax authorities.
Professionals were also told to register their official appointment books containing names and tax identification numbers (TIN) to promote transparency and eradicate tax evasion among the ranks of the self-employed.
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