BIR mandates the issuance of electronic receipts or sales/commercial invoices to certain taxpayers

The Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) announces new policies and guidelines regarding the issuance of the Electronic Invoicing/Receipting System (EIS) and the taxpayers it affects through the release of Revenue Regulation (RR) 8-2022. The RR follows sections 244 and 245 of the National Internal Revenue Code (NIRC) of 1997, which help implement Sections 237 and 237-A of the NIRC, which was then amended by the TRAIN law.

These sections described the requirements needed for issuing electronic receipts/invoices (now known as e-Receipts/e-Invoices) in place of the manual receipts or sales/commercial invoices and on the electronic reporting of these sales data to the Bureau.

Taxpayers that are required to issue electronic receipts/invoices

The RR then listed down which taxpayers are mandated to issue electronic receipts or sales/commercial invoices under Sec. 237 of the NIRC of 1997, as amended, to wit:

1. Taxpayers engaged in the export of goods and services.
2. Taxpayers engaged in electronic commerce (e-commerce).
3. Taxpayers under the Large Taxpayers Services (LTS).

Section 237-A of the NIRC requires these taxpayers, except those engaged in e-commerce, to electronically report or transmit their sales data to the Bureau using their Sales Data Transmission System. Nevertheless, taxpayers not covered by the mandate may also opt to issue electronic receipts or sales/commercial invoices instead of manual receipts/invoices.

Guidelines for Electronic Invoicing/receipting System (EIS)

The BIR created the EIS to store and process the data required to be transmitted by covered taxpayers using the Sales Data Transmission System. Following the guidelines from the TRAIN law, the RR requests that taxpayers required to issue electronic receipts adhere to the following:

1. Issuance of e-Receipts/e-Invoices to their customers/buyers, instead of manual receipts/invoices.
2. Registration of their Computerized Accounting System (CAS) generating e-receipts/e-invoices and/or Cash Register Machines (CRM)/Point-of-Sales Systems and Certification of Sales Data Transmission System.

Transmission of the sales data covered by the e-receipts/e-invoices using their Sales Data Transmission System into the EIS of the Bureau.

Taxpayer guidelines and policies

The RR then clarified that all taxpayers covered by these regulations must adhere to the guidelines and policies stated below; furthermore, the BIR says that additional issuances will be created for the details and specific requirements thereof.

1. AII covered taxpayers required to issue e-Receipts/e-Invoices and transmit sales data electronically under Section 2 of these Regulations need to develop a Sales Data Transmission System based on the Standard Application Programming Interface (APl) Guidelines.
2. Before to the actual transmission of sales data to the ElS, enrollment of taxpayers shall be necessary for security purposes.
3. The developed Sales Data Transmission System shall be certified by BIR through the ElS. Taxpayers must submit applications for the EIS Certification or "ElS CERT" subject to online verification if compliant with the BIR requirements. Upon approval of the application, an "ElS CERT" shall be issued to the taxpayer.
4. The taxpayer must apply for the issuance of Permit to Transmit (also known as "PTT") to allow the transmission of sales data to the ElS.
5. Taxpayers shall apply for EIS CERT and PTT regardless of the role of or arrangement with the software provider.
6. Sales reporting shall be done immediately for transactions on the day following the issuance of the PTT.
7. Transmission of sales data shall be done in real-time or near real-time if it should be done within three (3) calendar days from the date of the transaction. It’s not a scanned copy nor an image of the e-Receipts/e-Invoices transmitted to the ElS.
8. The encrypted sales data to be transmitted to EIS shall be in JavaScript Object Notation (JSON) File Format.
9. Only authorised taxpayers are allowed to access the ElS.
10. A corresponding penalty shall be imposed for the delayed or late, or no transmission of sales data to ElS.
11. Taxpayers who are not mandated to issue e-Receipts/e-Invoices and not required to transmit sales data to EIS may continue to use manual receipts/invoices or issue CAS/POS-generated receipts/invoices based on existing revenue issuances.
    However, taxpayers who will opt to issue e-Receipts/e-Invoices and transmit sales data to EIS may comply with the provisions of these Regulations.
12. Taxpayers using the EIS shall not be required to submit a Summary List of Sales (SLS); however, a Summary List of Purchases and Importations shall still be required.

Other related policies relevant to the issuance of receipts or invoices

The BIR then explained specific policies relevant to issuing receipts or invoices about the implementation of Sections 237 and 237-A of the NIRC of 1997, as amended.

1. AII persons subject to an internal revenue tax shall, at the point of each sale and transfer of merchandise or for services rendered valued at One Hundred Pesos
   (PHP 100) Or, issue duly registered receipts or sale or commercial invoices, showing the transaction date, quantity, unit cost and description of merchandise or nature of service.
2. The receipts/sales or commercial invoices to be used must be serially numbered and shall show, among other things, the name, business style, Taxpayer Identification Number (TIN) including the branch code, if applicable, business address of Head Office or Branch, whichever is applicable, and such other information as required.
3. No manual or electronic receipts or sales or commercial invoices shall be used unless authorised through an Authority to Print (ATP), Permit to Use (PTU), Acknowledgment Certificate or Authority to Generate (ATC), respectively, duly issued by BIR under existing rules and regulations.
4. The invoicing requirements under Section 113 (B) of the Tax Code of 1997, as amended, relative to the information indicated on the VAT invoice/receipt shall still be complied with.
5. Only those receipts/invoices generated from the following shall be considered valid for tax purposes, to wit:
   • Duly registered CAS according to the provisions of Revenue Memorandum Order (RMO) No. 9-2021 and other related revenue issuances with approved serial numbers;
   • Duly accredited and registered CRM/POS with Machine Identification Number (MIN) and the approved maximum number of digits on serial numbers to be used.

The RR closes by explaining that all previous rules and regulations deemed inconsistent with the provisions of these Regulations are now repealed, amended, or modified accordingly. Lastly, the BIR explains that these regulations take effect immediately after publication in a newspaper of general circulation.