BIR Issued Policies and Procedures for the Issuance of Tax Credit Certificate Arising from PERA and the ePERA System

On 17 March 2022, the Bureau of Internal Revenue (“BIR”) issued Revenue Memorandum Order No. 17-2022 (“RMO 17-2022”) which prescribed policies and procedures for the issuance of Tax Credit Certificate arising from Personal Equity Retirement Account (“PERA”) and its utilization using the ePERA System.

Policy

The ePERA system shall manage the proper administrative reporting of PERA transactions involving contributions, income, withdrawals and/or terminations using simplified and uniform formats for a coordinated monitoring of tax privileges and incentives granted to qualified PERA contributions under the Report Compliance Module.

RMO 17-2022 lists down the following reports to be submitted by the PERA Administrator under the Report Compliance module of the ePERA system:

The annual reports on PERA Contributions, as well as PERA Distributions/Early Withdrawals/Terminations shall be the cumulative result of the 1^st to 4^th quarterly reports submitted.

Late submission and non-submission of required reports shall be subjected to penalty imposition. However, payment of penalty shall not exonerate the PERA Administrator from complying with the submission of the required reports.

The compromise penalties under the existing revenue issuances shall be imposed for each and every case of non-submission or late submission of required reports during a taxable year by the PERA Administrator. For this purpose, failure to supply any of the required reports shall constitute a single act of omission.

Procedure

RMO 17-2022 also enumerated the functions of each BIR office in the issuance of the Tax Credit Certificate as follows:

1. Office of the Assistant Commissioner, Assessment Service
   1. Approve or reject processed application for the issuance of PERA-TCC through the Tax Credit- Application module of the ePERA system; and
   2. Approve or reject processed request for the re-printing or cancellation of the PERA-TCC through the Tax Credits module of the ePERA system.
   
   
2. Audit Information Tax Exemption and Incentives Division (AITEID)
   1. Approve or reject the reports submitted by the PERA Administrators within ten (l0) days from date of submission;
   2. Issue penalty notice to the concerned PERA Administrators in case of late or non-submission of reports as prompted by the epERA system;
   3. Process the application for PERA- TCC and request for cancellation or reprinting of PERA-TCC due to meritorious reason submitted by the PERA Administrators.
   4. Prepare endorsement of PERA-TCC or reprinted PERA-TCC for approval of the PERA-TCC Approver authorized by the commissioner pursuant to a Revenue Delegation of Authority Order (“RDAO”);
   5. Review the early withdrawal penalties computed by the PERA Administrators and deducted from the PERA withdrawn by the contributors;
   6. Monitor on a quarterly basis all early withdrawal penalties deducted and inform the concerned Revenue District Office/ Large Taxpayer Regular Audit Division where the PEM Administrator is registered for their validation/verification if the same amounts deducted as penalties were remitted; and
   7. Submit report of the List of PERA-TCC Applications approved every year to the top management on or before June 30 of the current year.
   
   
3. Concerned Revenue District Office/ Large Taxpayer Regular Audit Division where the PERA Administrator is registered
   1. Receive from AITEID the amount of penalties deducted from the contributors based on the submitted report;
   2. Validate the payment on the settlement of the tax and penalties of the early withdrawal that does not fall within the circumstances enumerated under PERA Rules
   3. Provide feedback on the validation to the AITEID within ten (10) days from receipt.
   
   
4. Concerned Revenue District Office where the contributor is registered or where applicable return is filed by the qualified contributor
   1. Collate the tax returns and attachments filed by the qualified contributors under their jurisdiction;
   2. Scan the QR code or access the ePERA System to validate the authenticity of the PERA- TCC;
   3. Click the “CLAIM” button for the utilized PERA-TCC at the Utilization Details Screen- ePERA System, to effect the status of PERA TCC as “CLAIMED” and
   4. Send written notice to the qualified contributors for the collection of the tax deficiency and penalties, if any, by reason of wrongful computation of taxes or by reason of the use of spurious PERA-TCC.
   
   
5. Collection Service
   1. Issue the specific policies and guidelines on the utilization of the PERA TCC by the contributor classified as employee and the manner of its reporting by the employer; and
   2. Monitor the utilization of the PERA TCC of the qualified self-employed and overseas Filipino contributors, who have deducted the amounts of PERA TCCs in their tax returns, tagged as “CLAIMED” by the concerned RDO.
   
   
6. Information Systems Group

   The Business Intelligence Division shall

   1. Maintain the application modules of ePERA and resolve any issues raised by the PERA Administrator and BIR users
   2. Monitor and maintain data regarding PERA stored in the database;
   3. Monitor and maintain the TIN Verification API
   
   

   The Data Warehousing and Systems Operations Division shall:

   1. Prepare Adhoc Report for the use of Top Management by extracting from Bureau’s database relevant to the PERA-TCC utilization:
      1. Deductions from the employees’ income tax due based on the Alphalists submitted by employer and
      2. Tax returns which show 5% PERA-TCC availment under “Other Tax Credits/Payments (specify)” located immediately after the line item stating “Tax Due”; and
   2. Maintain the ePERA system that will automatically extract the reports submitted by PERA Administrators through BSP PERASys.
   
   

   The Network Management and Technical Support Division and Security Management Division shall:

   1. Set up and configure connectivity between BSP and BIR for the PERASys and ePERA system;
   2. Provide the necessary support to the PERA Processing Office and other concerned offices relative to the connectivity of ePERA System and
   3. Coordinate with other offices under the ISG that shall help in the provision of the necessary support as required under the preceding item.

The full text of the issuance may be viewed here.