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Philippines VAT guidelines

FACTSHEET
Country codePH
Tax nameValue-Added Tax (VAT)
Tax AuthorityBureau of Internal Revenue (BIR)
Standard rate12%
E-invoicing systemElectronic Invoicing System (EIS) — mandatory for covered taxpayers by 31 December 2026

Overview​

The Philippines levies Value-Added Tax (VAT) under Title IV of the National Internal Revenue Code of 1997 (NIRC), as amended, administered by the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR). Currency throughout this guide is the Philippine peso (PHP/₱), and the standard tax year is the calendar year, with VAT itself reported on a quarterly return.

The scope of VAT was substantially widened by Republic Act No. 12023, approved 2 October 2024 ("this Act shall take effect fifteen days after its publication in the Official Gazette or in a newspaper of general circulation"), which amended Sections 105, 108, 109, 110, 113, 114, 115, 128, 236 and 288 of the NIRC and inserted new Sections 108-A and 108-B — extending VAT explicitly to digital services, whether supplied by a resident or a nonresident digital service provider (NRDSP). [1] As amended, Section 105 confirms the base rule: "Any person who, in the course of trade or business, sells, barters, exchanges, leases goods or properties, renders services, including digital services, and any person who imports goods shall be subject to the value-added tax," and digital services delivered by an NRDSP "shall be considered performed or rendered in the Philippines if the digital services are consumed in the Philippines." [1]

Layering. Not applicable — Philippine VAT is a single national tax administered centrally by the BIR under the NIRC. There is no provincial or municipal VAT layer; local government units levy separate local business taxes and fees, not a VAT surcharge. (Checked 2026-09-27, against RA No. 12023 and the BIR's own VAT-on-Digital-Services portal, neither of which provides for a sub-national VAT.)

To check a Philippine tax identification number, use our Philippines TIN validator. For the TIN format itself, see our Philippines TIN number guide.

Registration​

Who should register. Section 236(F)(1) of the NIRC, as amended by RA No. 12023, states the liability rule directly: any person who, in the course of trade or business, sells, barters, exchanges or leases goods or properties (including those digital in nature) or renders services (including digital services) "shall be liable to register, either electronically or manually, for value-added tax if (a) the person's gross sales for the past twelve (12) months... have exceeded the threshold as provided in Section 109(CC); or (b) there are reasonable grounds to believe that the gross sales for the next twelve (12) months... will exceed the threshold as provided in Section 109(CC)." [1]

  • Threshold. The exempt/registration threshold under Section 109(CC) is PHP 3,000,000 of gross sales or receipts over a rolling 12-month period. (Checked 2026-09-27.)
  • Non-resident threshold. RMC No. 47-2025 requires an NRDSP to register regardless of whether its transactions are B2B, B2C, or both — the requirement "applies regardless of the nature of their transactions, whether Business-to-Business (B2B), Business-to-Consumer (B2C), or both," and an NRDSP "with purely B2B transactions" must still register and file returns even though it is the Philippine buyer, not the NRDSP, who ends up remitting the VAT under the reverse-charge mechanism (see Cross-border rules). [2]
  • Tax registration number (TIN). See our dedicated Philippines TIN number guide for TIN format details.
  • How to register — NRDSPs. RMC No. 47-2025 sets out the NRDSP path: register through the dedicated VAT on Digital Services (VDS) Portal once available, or — prior to its roll-out — through the Online Registration and Update System (ORUS) on the BIR's own website, or manually at Revenue District Office No. 39 – South Quezon City where a local representative is appointed. Required information includes the entity's name (and trade name), the authorized representative's details, the registered foreign address, and contact information; any official foreign incorporation or tax-residency document naming the NRDSP is accepted as supporting evidence. No local representative is required to register — an NRDSP may appoint one voluntarily, and doing so does not by itself make the NRDSP a resident foreign corporation "doing business" in the Philippines for VAT purposes. On approval, the BIR issues a Certificate of Registration (BIR Form No. 2303) carrying the assigned TIN. [2]
  • Voluntary registration. Not covered here — see BIR guidance directly for Section 236(H) voluntary-registration procedure.
  • Deregistration. Not covered here — see BIR guidance directly for the deregistration procedure and filing deadlines.
  • Group registration. Not available as a multi-entity scheme. Philippine VAT is filed per juridical entity, not per corporate group. There is no provision allowing two or more separately incorporated entities to file one combined VAT return. (Checked 2026-09-27.)

Rates​

RateLegal basisApplies to
12% (standard)NIRC Sec. 108(A), as amended by RA No. 12023"Twelve percent (12%) of the gross sales derived from the sale or exchange of services, including digital services, and the use or lease of properties." [1] The same 12% rate applies to the sale of goods and to importation under NIRC Sections 106 and 107, provisions RA No. 12023 did not amend.
12% (digital services, resident or nonresident provider)NIRC Sec. 108-A / 108-B, inserted by RA No. 12023Digital services "consumed in the Philippines," whoever supplies them. RMC No. 47-2025 confirms NRDSPs "will be registered and liable for payment of the 12% VAT on their gross sales from the supply and delivery of digital services consumed or used in the Philippines." [2]
5% / 12% withholdingNIRC Sec. 114(C), as amended by RA No. 12023Government withholding on purchases of VAT-able goods/services: a creditable 5% final-turned-creditable withholding since 1 January 2021 in the general case, but "payment for lease or use of properties or property rights to nonresident owners and payments for services to nonresident suppliers who are not registered under Section 236... shall be subject to twelve percent (12%) withholding tax at the time of payment." [1]
0% / exemptNIRC Sec. 106(A)(2), 108(B), 109Zero-rated exports and VAT-exempt transactions exist under the general NIRC scheme — see Exemptions for the exempt list confirmed from RA No. 12023 itself.

Announced future rates. None identified from an official BIR or Official Gazette source as of this guide's last update (2026-09-27).

Cross-border rules​

Imports. The importer is the taxpayer: Section 105, as amended, states plainly that "any person who imports goods shall be subject to the value-added tax imposed in Sections 106 to 108 of this Code." [1] Not covered here — see the Bureau of Customs directly for the VAT-base computation (duty-plus-VAT layering) on imports.

Exports. Philippine VAT law zero-rates qualifying exports under NIRC Sections 106(A)(2) and 108(B), provisions unamended by RA No. 12023. (Checked 2026-09-27.)

Digital services — the core of RA No. 12023. Section 108-A defines a "digital service" as "any service that is supplied over the internet or other electronic network with the use of information technology and where the supply of the service is essentially automated," expressly including: online search engines; online marketplaces or e-marketplaces; cloud services; online media and advertising; online platforms; and digital goods. A "digital service provider" is "a resident or nonresident supplier of digital services to a consumer... subject to value-added tax in the Philippines," and a "nonresident digital service provider" is one "that has no physical presence in the Philippines." [1]

Foreign sellers — B2B and B2C, answered separately.

  • B2C (NRDSP to a Philippine consumer not engaged in business). RMC No. 47-2025: the NRDSP "shall be directly liable for: (i) electronically filing the VAT return; and (ii) paying the VAT due thereon through the simplified pay-only regime in the VDS Portal." [2]
  • B2B (NRDSP to a Philippine business, government body, or GOCC). Section 114(D) of the NIRC, inserted by RA No. 12023: "A VAT-registered taxpayer shall be liable to withhold and remit the value-added tax due on its purchase of digital services consumed in the Philippines from nonresident digital service providers to the Bureau of Internal Revenue, within ten (10) days following the end of the month the withholding was made." [1] RMC No. 47-2025 calls this the reverse charge mechanism and confirms the buyer files using BIR Form No. 1600-VT, while the NRDSP still files its own BIR Form No. 2550-DS for the B2B transaction (with no VAT remittance due from the NRDSP on that transaction). An NRDSP unable to show the VAT amount on its invoice must instead add "a footnote/annotation on the invoice indicating that the Philippine business consumer/buyer is responsible for accounting and remitting the 12% VAT." [2]
Nonresident digital services · 12% VAT
Same digital service: who pays the 12% VAT to the BIRBIRBureau ofInternal RevenueB2C · CONSUMER NOT IN BUSINESSConsumerin the PhilippinesNonresidentdigital providerprice + VAT12% VATForm 2550-DSvia VDS PortalB2B · VAT-REGISTERED BUYERBusiness buyerVAT-registeredNonresidentstill files 2550-DS,remits no VATpricebuyer withholds 12% VAT · Form 1600-VTwithin 10 days after the end of the month of withholding

Marketplace / platform deemed-supplier liability. Section 108-B: a VAT-registered NRDSP "classified as an online marketplace or e-marketplace" is also liable for VAT on the transactions of nonresident sellers that go through its platform, but only where it controls key aspects of the supply AND either sets, directly or indirectly, any of the terms and conditions of the supply, or is involved in ordering or delivering the goods. The two conditions are cumulative, not alternative tests for what "control" means. [1] RMC No. 47-2025 narrows this in practice: where a sale is merely listed on the platform but payment flows directly between buyer and seller, outside the marketplace's control, "the e-marketplace is not liable to pay the VAT" on that sale — though the marketplace's own service fee, where charged to a Philippine buyer, is separately taxable as a digital service. [2]

Place of supply. For digital services, Section 105 fixes it by consumption, not by the supplier's location: a digital service "shall be considered performed or rendered in the Philippines if the digital services are consumed in the Philippines." [1] For goods, the operative marker remains the import/export declaration at the Bureau of Customs.

Verifying whether a buyer is "engaged in business." RMC No. 47-2025 gives NRDSPs a concrete method: obtain the buyer's TIN, and use "a questionnaire or a tick box in their websites/platforms for customers to confirm that they are engaged in business," optionally supported by the buyer's own BIR Certificate of Registration. [2]

Invoice requirements​

Section 113 of the NIRC, as amended by RA No. 12023, sets two parallel regimes — a general VAT invoice, and a shorter-form invoice unique to nonresident digital service providers.

Mandatory content — general VAT invoice​

Section 113(A): "A VAT-registered person shall issue a VAT invoice for every sale, barter, exchange, or lease of goods or properties, and for every sale, barter, or exchange of services." [1] RA No. 12023 did not restate the field-by-field content list of Section 113(B)(1)–(4) (its own text prints those paragraphs as unchanged "XXX" placeholders) — RMC No. 98-2026 confirms the detail sits in RR No. 7-2024 under the Ease of Paying Taxes Act. Not covered here — see RR No. 7-2024 directly for the full particulars list. [3]

Mandatory content — nonresident digital service provider​

Section 113(B)(5), which RA No. 12023 does spell out in full, prescribes a shorter, five-field invoice for an NRDSP "in lieu of the requirements under Section 113, Subsection (b), paragraphs 1 to 4":

FieldRequirement
Date of the transactionMandatory
Transaction reference numberMandatory
Identification of the consumerMandatory (including the consumer's TIN for a B2B sale, per RMC No. 47-2025)
Brief description of the transactionMandatory
Total amount, indicating that it includes VATMandatory; where the sale mixes taxable, VAT-exempt and VAT zero-rated components, the invoice must show the breakdown and the VAT calculated on each portion separately

[1] RMC No. 47-2025 confirms there is "no prescribed form of an invoice for NRDSPs as long as the mandatory information under the law is present" — the five fields above, plus (for a B2B sale) an annotation where the VAT amount cannot itself be shown, explaining that the Philippine buyer is responsible for withholding. [2]

Illustrative specimen​

No official annotated specimen invoice was located from a Philippine authority — the digital-services invoice is deliberately format-free (see above). The sheet below is an illustration built by LookupTax, showing only the five NRDSP fields RA No. 12023 itself specifies, for a B2C sale (the NRDSP collects and remits the VAT itself). Do not treat any name, number or amount below as real.

Specimen

Digital sales or commercial invoice — nonresident digital service provider (B2C)

Date of transaction
10 August 2026
Transaction reference number
TXN-0000123
Nonresident digital service providerExample Cloud Services Ltd.BIR TIN: 000-000-000-000
Consumer (identification)Example Philippine Consumer
Brief description of the transactionAmount
Cloud storage subscription10,000 PHP
Total amount (VAT-inclusive)
11,200 PHP
  • Section 113(B)(5) requires only these five items in lieu of the standard field list — RMC No. 47-2025 confirms there is no prescribed layout.
  • A B2B sale is different: under reverse charge, the Philippine business buyer — not the NRDSP — accounts for and remits the 12% VAT, so the NRDSP invoice instead carries a footnote naming the buyer as responsible for withholding and does not show a VAT-inclusive total collected by the NRDSP.
Illustrative only, covering the five-field NRDSP invoice content that Section 113(B)(5) of the Tax Code specifies for a B2C sale. No official annotated specimen was located from a Philippine authority. Every name, reference number and amount below is fictional.

Currency and language​

Not covered here — see the NIRC and RR No. 7-2024 directly for the invoice currency/language rule. RMC No. 47-2025's worked examples are denominated in Philippine pesos throughout.

Retention​

Not covered here — see the NIRC and BIR issuances directly for invoice retention requirements.

E-invoicing status​

Mandatory for covered taxpayers, other than Micro Taxpayers, by 31 December 2026. The Philippines' Electronic Invoicing System (EIS) mandate runs through three linked instruments — RR No. 8-2022 (the original EIS framework), RR No. 11-2025 (the current coverage and head-office/branch rule), and RR No. 26-2025 (the transitory-provisions amendment that set the current deadline) — consolidated by RMC No. 98-2026, issued 22 September 2026. [3]

Who is covered. RMC No. 98-2026 lists: (1) taxpayers in e-commerce or internet transactions, classified Small, Medium or Large (Micro Taxpayers exempted); (2) taxpayers under the Large Taxpayers Service; (3) Large Taxpayers under RA No. 11976 (Ease of Paying Taxes Act) and RR No. 8-2024; (4) taxpayers using a Computerized Accounting System (CAS) or Computerized Books of Accounts (CBA) with electronic invoicing, or other invoicing software; and (5) "other taxpayers as may be required by the Commissioner." [3] RR No. 26-2025 defers four further groups — exporters under NIRC Sections 106/108, Registered Business Enterprises availing of tax incentives under Section 304(D) of the Tax Code, taxpayers using a POS System, and other taxpayers the Commissioner designates — to a future Revenue Regulation, to take effect "once a system capable of storing and processing the required data... is established." The exporter and RBE deferrals carry an exception: they apply "except those falling under Section 3(A)(4) of RR No. 11-2025", so an exporter or RBE that uses CAS, CBA with electronic invoicing, or other invoicing software is not deferred and has the 31 December 2026 deadline. POS-system users are not yet covered by the current mandate; they sit in this same deferred group. [4]

The head-office/branch rule sits in RR No. 11-2025, not RR No. 26-2025. RR No. 11-2025, Section 3.A, provides that "in case the above taxpayers or business activities are registered as a Branch Office, the taxpayers' Head Office and all its Branch Offices shall also be mandated to issue electronic invoices" (Section 3.B applies the same branch rule to electronic sales reporting). RR No. 26-2025 amends only RR No. 11-2025's transitory (deadline) provisions and carries no head-office/branch rule of its own. RMC No. 98-2026 restates the same substance: compliance "shall apply to the taxpayer as a whole. Thus, the Head Office and all its Branch Offices shall be mandated to issue electronic invoices, regardless of whether the covered activity is undertaken at a particular branch." [3]

What counts as a valid electronic invoice. RMC No. 98-2026 sets three conditions: it must be (a) generated by a duly registered, approved or accredited accounting/invoicing software or system in a structured electronic format; (b) electronically transmitted to the buyer via email, online viewing, QR code, a mobile app, a web platform or other electronic means; and (c) capable of having its data electronically extracted, processed and transmitted to the BIR for electronic sales reporting. Invoices "created manually using office productivity applications, including but not limited to Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, Google Docs, Google Sheets," are not valid electronic invoices. [3]

Permit to Issue (PTI) and EIS Certification. A taxpayer must secure a PTI Electronic Invoice from its Revenue District Office (or Large Taxpayer Office) before issuing electronic invoices — the BIR evaluates the application within 20 working days of complete documents. One PTI number is issued per taxpayer, covering the Head Office and each branch, and a distinct PTI is needed per invoicing software/system in use. After the PTI issues, the taxpayer must obtain EIS Certification — accessible through the EIS Certification Portal (five mandatory tests, or seven with an API callback) — within six months, "failure to do so shall constitute a ground for the revocation of the PTI Electronic Invoice." [3]

Format. The EIS uses JSON for transmitted sales data. A taxpayer's internal accounting system may use a different structured format provided it can convert and transmit in the BIR's prescribed JSON structure; the JSON fields are drawn from the minimum invoice content already required under Section 113 of the Tax Code and RR No. 7-2024, plus some additional details (discounts, withholding taxes). [3]

Corrections. Any correction must be a separate document referencing the original electronic invoice: a decrease goes through a duly authorized Credit Note/Memo, an increase through a new electronic invoice. An issued electronic invoice "shall not be deleted, altered, or modified." [3]

System downtime. Where downtime, connectivity failure, power interruption, a cybersecurity incident or force majeure prevents issuance, the taxpayer issues a manual invoice "duly authorized by the Bureau," and must replace every manually issued invoice with a corresponding electronic invoice once the system is restored, referencing the manual invoice numbers. [3]

Reclassification. A taxpayer reclassified upward (e.g., Medium to Large) must comply with its new tier's requirements within a period the Bureau sets, "not less than six (6) months" from reclassification; a taxpayer reclassified downward keeps complying with its previously approved requirement rather than stepping back down. [3]

Voluntary adoption. A taxpayer not yet mandated may adopt electronic invoicing voluntarily, provided it secures a PTI Electronic Invoice from its Revenue District Office first. [3]

Electronic sales reporting is a separate, later obligation. RMC No. 98-2026 is explicit that the Section 237 duty to issue electronic invoices is "separate and distinct" from the Section 237-A duty to electronically report sales data — covered taxpayers are only required to comply with sales reporting "upon the issuance by the Bureau of the implementing policies, guidelines, and procedures for such purpose," which had not been issued as of this guide's last update. [3]

For the full compliance timeline, scope, format and onboarding steps, see the Philippines e-invoicing guide and the event records linked from Recent changes below.

Filing and payment​

General filing cadence. VAT is reported and paid on a quarterly return (BIR Form No. 2550Q), due within twenty-five (25) days following the close of each taxable quarter, per RR No. 3-2025, Section 6, applying Sections 108-B and 114(A) of the Tax Code. (Checked 2026-09-27.)

Digital services — what this guide could verify. RMC No. 47-2025 names the specific forms: an NRDSP files BIR Form No. 2550-DS for both B2B and B2C transactions (and pays through it for B2C sales, via the VDS Portal's "simplified pay-only regime"); the Philippine business buyer in a B2B transaction files BIR Form No. 1600-VT to report and remit the withheld VAT. [2] Section 114(D) fixes the reverse-charge remittance deadline at "within ten (10) days following the end of the month the withholding was made." [1]

Input-tax recovery. Nonresident digital service providers cannot claim creditable input tax at all: Section 110(A)(2), as amended, states "notwithstanding the foregoing, nonresident digital service providers shall not be allowed to claim creditable input tax." [1] RMC No. 47-2025 adds that the Philippine business buyer's filed BIR Form No. 1600-VT is itself the buyer's proof to support its own input-VAT claim on the purchase. [2]

Refunds. Not covered here for the general VAT refund mechanism (NIRC Section 112, unamended by RA No. 12023) — see BIR guidance directly. RMC No. 47-2025 does cover one narrow NRDSP scenario: an NRDSP that already paid VAT on a sale it later discovers was a B2B sale on which the Philippine buyer separately withheld and remitted VAT cannot claim a refund of its own overpayment — it may only amend its BIR Form No. 2550-DS to carry the overpayment forward to a later quarter. [2]

Exemptions​

RA No. 12023 amended NIRC Section 109's exempt-transactions list to add one new category and confirm another already in force:

  • Educational services delivered online, from an accredited institution — Section 109(H). "Educational services, including online courses, online seminars, and online trainings, rendered by private educational institutions, duly accredited by the Department of Education (DepEd), the Commission on Higher Education (CHED), the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA), and those rendered by government educational institutions; and sale of online subscription-based services to DepEd, CHED, TESDA, and educational institutions recognized by said government agencies." [1] RMC No. 47-2025 confirms the institution need only present its DepEd/CHED/TESDA accreditation to the digital service provider — no separate Certificate of Tax Exemption from the BIR is required to claim this exemption. [2]
  • Bank and non-bank financial-intermediary services, including via digital platforms — Section 109(V). "Services of bank, non-bank financial intermediaries performing quasi-banking functions, and other non-bank financial intermediaries, including those rendered through different digital platforms." [1]
  • Digital services tied to a registered export enterprise's incentive. RMC No. 47-2025: digital services an NRDSP renders that are directly attributable either to a registered export enterprise's (or high-value/domestic-market enterprise's) incentivized activity, or to an Export-Oriented Enterprise's export activity, are eligible for VAT exemption. [2]

Section 109's remaining paragraphs — (A) through (U), (W) onward, and the general goods/agriculture/healthcare exempt list long predating RA No. 12023 — were not amended by this Act. Read the exempt list above as an addition to, not a replacement of, the NIRC's broader exemption schedule.

Exempt is not zero-rated. Section 110(A)(2), as amended, denies creditable input tax to nonresident digital service providers outright — a stronger version of the general "exempt supplies carry no input credit" principle, applied here to an entire class of taxpayer rather than to specific transactions. [1]

Special regimes. Registered Business Enterprises availing of tax incentives under Section 304(D) of the Tax Code are named in RR No. 26-2025 as a group whose e-invoicing mandate is deferred to a future issuance rather than starting now, except RBEs that use CAS, CBA with electronic invoicing, or other invoicing software, which fall in the current group with the 31 December 2026 deadline. [4] Not covered here — see BIR guidance directly for any cash-accounting or margin scheme.

Offences and penalties​

Section 115 of the NIRC, as amended by RA No. 12023, gives the Commissioner power to suspend business operations for failure to register under Section 236: "the temporary closure of the establishment shall be for the duration of not less than five (5) days and shall be lifted only upon compliance with whatever requirements prescribed by the Commissioner." For a digital service provider specifically, the same power extends to blocking the digital service itself, "implemented by the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT), through the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC)." [1]

NRDSP-specific penalties. RMC No. 47-2025: "An NRDSP which fails to register for VAT shall be imposed with applicable penalties under Section 13 of RR No. 3-2025, and suspension of its business operations under Section 12 of the same Regulations, if warranted." [2] Not covered here — see RR No. 3-2025, Sections 12–13, directly for the specific fine amounts.

General NIRC offences and penalties (Sections 254–275) and the EOPT-era penalty structure under RA No. 11976. Not covered here — verify penalty figures directly against bir.gov.ph before acting; this guide does not state specific penalty figures outside the e-invoicing and digital-services items cited above.

Late payment interest. Not covered here — see bir.gov.ph directly.

Frequently asked questions​

My company only buys digital services from a foreign SaaS vendor in B2B deals — does the vendor still have to register with the BIR?​

Yes. Revenue Memorandum Circular No. 47-2025 states plainly that all nonresident digital service providers (NRDSPs) must register or update their registration with the BIR under Section 5 of RR No. 3-2025, and that this requirement "applies regardless of the nature of their transactions, whether Business-to-Business (B2B), Business-to-Consumer (B2C), or both." A purely B2B NRDSP still has to file tax returns, even though — under Section 114(D) of the Tax Code as inserted by RA No. 12023 — it is the Philippine VAT-registered buyer, not the NRDSP, who withholds and remits the 12% VAT itself, within ten days of the end of the month the withholding was made. [2]

One of our branches doesn't sell online or use a POS system — does it still need to issue electronic invoices under the BIR mandate?​

Yes, if any part of your business is covered. Revenue Regulations No. 11-2025, Section 3.A, provides that "in case the above taxpayers or business activities are registered as a Branch Office, the taxpayers' Head Office and all its Branch Offices shall also be mandated to issue electronic invoices" (Section 3.B applies the same branch rule to electronic sales reporting). Revenue Memorandum Circular No. 98-2026 repeats the same rule: compliance "shall apply to the taxpayer as a whole," so the Head Office and all its Branch Offices must issue electronic invoices "regardless of whether the covered activity is undertaken at a particular branch." This head-office/branch rule sits in RR No. 11-2025, not in RR No. 26-2025 — RR No. 26-2025 only amended the transitory (compliance-deadline) provisions of RR No. 11-2025 and contains no head-office or branch rule of its own. [3]

What is the actual deadline for mandatory electronic invoicing in the Philippines, and who is covered?​

31 December 2026, for every covered taxpayer except Micro Taxpayers. Revenue Regulations No. 26-2025 (16 October 2025) rewrote the transitory provisions of RR No. 11-2025 to give until that date: e-commerce/internet-transaction taxpayers classified Small, Medium or Large (Micro Taxpayers are exempted); taxpayers under the Large Taxpayers Service; Large Taxpayers under RA No. 11976 and RR No. 8-2024; and taxpayers using a Computerized Accounting System or Computerized Books of Accounts with electronic invoicing or other invoicing software. Revenue Memorandum Circular No. 98-2026 (22 September 2026) confirmed the same population and deadline, and added the compliance mechanics — a BIR Permit to Issue (PTI) Electronic Invoice, followed by EIS Certification within six months of the PTI being issued. [4]

We got our Permit to Issue electronic invoices — what happens if we don't finish EIS Certification in time?​

The Bureau can revoke your Permit to Issue (PTI). RMC No. 98-2026 requires every taxpayer issuing electronic invoices to "secure an EIS Certification... within six (6) months from the issuance of PTI Electronic Invoice," and states expressly that "failure to do so shall constitute a ground for the revocation of the PTI Electronic Invoice." A PTI is issued per Head Office and each separate branch (all sharing one PTI number), and any change to the approved software or system — migration, replacement, or adoption of another system — requires a new or amended PTI. [3]

A foreign platform ("online marketplace") routes sales from other sellers to Philippine customers — who pays the VAT on those sales, the platform or the seller?​

It depends on whether the platform controls the key aspects of the supply. Section 108-B of the Tax Code, inserted by RA No. 12023, makes a VAT-registered NRDSP "classified as an online marketplace or e-marketplace" also liable to remit VAT on the transactions of nonresident sellers using its platform, but only if it controls key aspects of the supply AND either sets, directly or indirectly, any of the terms and conditions of the supply, or is involved in ordering or delivering the goods — the two conditions are cumulative. RMC No. 47-2025 adds a narrower carve-out for payment flow: an e-marketplace is not liable for VAT on a sale it merely lists, where the buyer pays the nonresident seller directly and the payment never passes through the marketplace's control — though the marketplace's own service fee to the Philippine buyer, if any, is still subject to VAT as a digital service in its own right. [1] [2]

Important websites​

PurposeWebsite
Tax authority homeBureau of Internal Revenue, bir.gov.ph
VAT on Digital Services — law, issuances and forms hubBIR VAT on Digital Services portal
Registration for nonresident digital service providers (until the VDS Portal launches)Online Registration and Update System (ORUS)
Electronic Invoicing System (EIS)eis.bir.gov.ph
BIR revenue issuances (RR/RMC full texts and digests)BIR Revenue Issuances
Business/corporate registrationSecurities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
Import VAT and customs declarationsBureau of Customs
Philippines TIN validation on LookupTaxPhilippines TIN validator

Recent changes​

  • 2026-09-22 — Revenue Memorandum Circular No. 98-2026 prescribes consolidated policies and guidelines for issuing electronic invoices under RR No. 8-2022 and RR No. 11-2025, as amended by RR No. 26-2025: covered taxpayers (other than Micro Taxpayers) must issue electronic invoices by 31 December 2026, secure a BIR Permit to Issue, and obtain EIS Certification within six months of the permit; compliance applies to the taxpayer as a whole, so the head office and all branches must issue electronic invoices (as RR No. 11-2025, Section 3.A, already provided). (Bureau of Internal Revenue) — see event — see issue
  • 2026-06-02 — Revenue Memorandum Circular No. 59-2026 further clarifies RR No. 3-2025's implementation of RA No. 12023: nonresident digital service providers must register and file VAT returns even where their supplies to a given buyer turn out to be VAT-exempt or otherwise non-remittable by the NRDSP itself, and in cross-border cost-sharing arrangements the Philippine user of the shared service is responsible for withholding and remitting the 12% VAT under the reverse-charge mechanism. (Bureau of Internal Revenue) — see event
  • 2026-04-16 — Executive Order No. 114 temporarily suspended excise taxes on LPG (except as petrochemical raw material or used for motive power) and kerosene (except aviation fuel) for three months under RA No. 12316, implemented by Revenue Regulations No. 3-2026. (Supreme Court E-Library) — see event
  • 2025-10-16 — Revenue Regulations No. 26-2025 amended the transitory provisions of RR No. 11-2025, extending the electronic-invoicing compliance deadline to 31 December 2026 for e-commerce/internet-transaction taxpayers, Large Taxpayers Service taxpayers, RA No. 11976 Large Taxpayers, and CAS/CBA users. (Bureau of Internal Revenue) — see event
  • 2024-10-02 — Republic Act No. 12023 extended VAT to digital services from resident and nonresident providers, inserting Sections 108-A and 108-B into the Tax Code and amending Sections 105, 108, 109, 110, 113, 114, 115, 128, 236 and 288; it took effect 15 days after publication, with nonresident-digital-service-provider VAT liability itself starting 2 June 2025, 120 days after the effectivity of implementing RR No. 3-2025. (Bureau of Internal Revenue)