Tax notes: Expiration of invoices/receipts

THE Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) recently adopted the online system for authority to print (ATP) official receipts, sales invoices, and other commercial invoices with the issuance of Revenue Regulations (RR) No. 18-2012. In relation thereto, all unused or unissued receipts and invoices which were printed prior to Jan. 18, 2013 (date of effectivity of RR 18-2012) will be deemed valid only until June 30, 2013.

Under the regulations, application for ATPs and submission of required documents will be done through the on-line ATP system. This will cover all principal and supplementary receipts/invoices. The term “principal receipts/invoices” refers to written accounts evidencing the sale of goods and/or services issued to customers in the ordinary course of business which include value-added tax (VAT) sales invoice/receipts and Non-VAT sales invoice/receipts. On the other hand, supplementary receipts/invoices, also known as commercial invoices, are written accounts evidencing that a transaction has been made between the seller and buyer of goods forming part of the books of accounts of a business taxpayer for recording, monitoring and control purposes. These include delivery receipts, order slips, debit and/or credit memo, purchase order, job order, provisional/temporary receipt, acknowledgment receipt, collection receipt, cash receipt, bill of lading, billing statement and statement of account.

The application for ATP should be filed not later than 60 days prior to the actual expiry date. Any unused /unissued receipts/invoices will be surrendered to the taxpayer’s Revenue District Office (RDO) on or before the 10th day after the expiration of the receipts/invoices for destruction. An inventory listing of these unused/unissued receipts and invoices shall also be submitted to the BIR.

The approved ATP shall be valid only until full usage of the approved serial numbers or five years from its issuance, whichever comes first.

(Source: Punongbayan & Araullo)