MANILA, Philippines — The Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) has given new businesses until yearend to comply with the mandatory use of non-thermal paper for their receipts.
It was the second extension granted by the BIR, via Revenue Regulations (RR) No. 14-2015 signed by BIR Commissioner Kim S. Jacinto-Henares and Finance Secretary Cesar V. Purisima on Nov. 9.
The deadline was moved to Dec. 31 from Oct. 31 under RR 12-2015 issued last September. The original deadline was Oct. 1, under RR 10-2015 .
The BIR earlier ordered newly registered enterprises to only use non-thermal paper for their cash register machines (CRM), point of sales (POS) machines and other invoice and receipt-generating machines or software.
As for existing establishments, the BIR gave them more time to shift to non-thermal paper receipts.
“Considering the associated costs of transitioning to non-thermal paper, a tiered compliance structure is hereby put in place to allow concerned taxpayers to meet compliance requirements over a three-year period,” the BIR said.
Existing taxpayers with CRM/POS/other similar machines/software that currently use thermal paper must shift to non-thermal receipts within the following periods:
• On or before Jul. 1, 2018, for machines registered on Jul. 1, 2014 onwards;
• On or before Jul. 1, 2017, for machines registered from Jul. 1, 2013 to Jun. 30, 2014; and
• On or before Sept. 1, 2016, for machines registered prior Jul. 1, 2012 until Jun. 30, 2013.
RR 10-2015 also listed down the various information that must be printed on official receipts, sales invoices and other commercial invoices, such as the taxpayer’s registered name and business name, detailed business address, date of transaction, description of the items/goods or nature of service (quantity, unit cost, total cost and value-added tax or VAT amount), among others.
The BIR had warned that “any violation of these regulations shall be subject to the corresponding penalties under the pertinent provisions of the National Internal Revenue Code of 1997, as amended, and applicable revenue issuances” of the agency.
In June, the BIR ordered all establishments to submit inventory lists of their receipt-generating machines.
Last May, the BIR stopped issuing provisional permits for sales machines, citing “abuse” in their use. SFM