BIR orders online platforms, digital firms to remit seller withholding taxes
By Derco Rosal
At A Glance
- The Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) has identified electronic marketplace (e-marketplace) operators and digital financial services providers (DFSPs) as withholding agents required to remit a portion of gross payments sent to sellers.
The Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) has identified electronic marketplace (e-marketplace) operators and digital financial services providers (DFSPs) as withholding agents required to remit a portion of gross payments sent to sellers.
Under BIR Revenue Memorandum Circular (RMC) No. 55-2026, published last Tuesday, May 26, the country’s main tax-collection agency said e-marketplace operators and DFSPs are required to remit 0.5 percent of their gross remittances to sellers of goods and services.
“However, BIR records show that many of these entities have not complied with this requirement,” Internal Revenue Commissioner Charlito Martin R. Mendoza said in the RMC, calling on digital entities to comply with existing tax rules covering such remittances.
The BIR said e-marketplace operators and DFSPs are likewise required to submit an alphabetical list of employees or payees from whom taxes were withheld as a mandatory attachment to withholding tax returns.
To ensure transparency throughout the year, the BIR laid out a strict submission schedule for these reports.
Under the RMC, the alphalist for the monthly withholding tax return covering 12-percent value-added tax (VAT) and percentage tax must be submitted by the 10th day of the following month.
Meanwhile, the quarterly alphalist of payees covering creditable withholding tax (CWT) and final withholding tax (FWT) must be filed on or before the last day of the month following the end of each quarter.
For annual submissions, the alphalist for withholding tax on compensation and FWT must be filed every Jan. 31 of the succeeding year, while the annual alphalist for CWT must be submitted by March 1.
The BIR said these deadlines are aligned with the filing schedules of the corresponding tax returns.
Mendoza warned that “failure to submit the alphalist constitutes a violation of BIR regulations and is subject to the corresponding penalty.”
Since the alphalist is considered an integral part of the withholding tax return, the BIR said incomplete filings will likewise be treated as regulatory violations.