Starting a Business in the Philippines Part 4: Registration Requirements in BIR

The main objective of this article is to be equipped with the knowledge and all the requirements before heading to BIR for your business registration so that you can submit all the requirements in one day and minimize the waiting time by having all the forms needed already filled out.

This is part 4 of The Ultimate Guide to Starting a Business in the Philippines series.

Table of Contents:

• Acquiring a Certificate of Registration
• Primary Registration
• Application for Authority to Print Receipts and Invoices
• Registration of Book Accounts:
• List of Accredited Printers of Receipts/Invoices
• List of Authorized Agent Banks
• Operating Hours

Certificate of Registration

Depending on the industry of your business and the special registrations, you might need to fill out any additional forms. But still, by having all the primary requirements you can use your time efficiently. You don’t want to wait a few hours in line and discover that you still have several forms to fill out when you are already being entertained on the designated counter.

What you need to have

These are the requirements to register a single proprietorship business:

Primary Registration:

1. BIR Form 1901: Application for Registration (2 copies)
2. DTI Certificate of Business Name Registration (1 photocopy)
3. Proof of Address where your business will be located: Contract of Lease (rented) or Certificate of Land Title (owned) (1 photocopy and bring the original lease contract or original copy of land title)
4. 2 government-issued IDs - to be listed, 1 ID to be left at the guard for the visitor pass and 1 ID as a requirement (1 photocopy of the ID to be submitted as a requirement and bring the original)
5. BIR Form 0605: Payment Form (2 copies)
6. List of banks and branches accepting deposit for payment to your RDO
7. Payment of 530php: 500php Registration Fee (RF) + 30php documentary stamp

Application for Authority to Print Receipts and Invoices:

1. List of authorized accredited printers by your RDO
2. Sample Official Receipt (OR) from an authorized printer
3. Printer’s Certificate of Accreditation and Certificate of Registration
4. BIR Form 1906: Authority to Print Receipts and Invoices (2 copies)
5. BIR Form 2000: Monthly Documentary Stamp Declaration/Return (2 copies)

Registration of Book Accounts:

1. 1 General Ledger (or columnar ledger if no general ledger is available)
2. 1 General Journal (or 2-column columnar if no journal is available)
3. 2 Columnar (8-14 columns)
4. BIR Form 1905: Application for Registration Information Update/Correction/Cancellation (2 copies)

You can download the BIR forms from the BIR website, print them, and fill them out before proceeding to your RDO. This will help you save time in the process. I will explain each form and the fields that are not straightforward for a non-accountant as on the next article.

Research and Preparations

First things first, before you go to BIR, you need to have the following researched, narrowed down, and prepared:

• List of Accredited Printers of Receipts/Invoices: List down several accredited printers under your RDO and contact them to request for a Sample OR. Depending on the printer, the Sample OR might take 2-3 days to be developed and delivered. The rate varies by the number and type of booklets you will order. For example, 10 booklets of Official Receipt (50 x 2) white bond paper and colored carbon copy cost 2,500php. Some printers will ask for a 50% deposit when they provide a Sample OR of your business. When the printer delivers your Sample OR they should also provide photocopies of their Certificate of Accreditation and Certificate of Registration. You need to submit these two documents together with the Sample OR.

• List of Authorized Agent Banks: This is a list of banks and branches accepting deposit for payment. Look for the branches under your RDO. Although BIR accepts payments directly, more often their systems are down or intermittent. When this happens, you will be asked to pay via their Authorized Agent Banks. You need to have at least 5 branches nearest to your RDO prepared. The branches are specific to their respective RDOs and you cannot just go to any branch to pay. It should be the designated Authorized Agent Banks under the RDO. You also have to consider that most banks close at 3pm so you should be able to go to BIR early.

Operating Hours

BIR branches are open Mondays to Fridays, from 8am to 5pm, except of course during non-working and regular holidays. They have a no-lunch break policy so they operate continuously within their business hours. This no-lunch break policy does not mean their staff don’t take lunch but rather they have switching arrangement when some employees will take over the counters while the others are on lunch break and vice versa. Because of the COVID outbreak, you will have to wait outside on the designated lanes before being able to allow to go inside. Waiting time depends on the day but the average waiting time outside the RDO is 1.5 hrs. 😬

Now it’s time to fill out BIR Form 1901.

Next up:

• Part 5: Forms and Documents for BIR Registration

Credits: Illustration by Natasha Remarchuk from Icons8