Legal & Tax Updates [Back to list]

New Guidelines on the Online Registration of Books of Accounts

The Bureau of Internal Revenue (“BIR”) issued Revenue Memorandum Circular (“RMC”) No. 3-2023 (“RMC 3-2023”) on 10 January 2023 prescribing the policies and guidelines on the online registration of books of accounts and amending Section 2 of RMC 29-2019 in relation to the manner of registration of books of accounts using the BIR Online Registration and Update System (“ORUS”). 

Taxpayers may maintain their books of accounts in any of the following manners: (1) manual books of accounts; (2) loose leaf books of accounts/invoices/receipts and other accounting records; and (3) computerized books of accounts and other accounting records in electronic format with the BIR.

With the issuance of RMC 3-2023, all books of accounts shall be registered online with the BIR’s ORUS. Instead of the manual stamping of books of accounts, a Quick Response (“QR”) code shall be generated, which can be validated online. 

Manner of Bookkeeping or Maintaining of Books of Accounts

Newly registered businesses must register their manual books of accounts prior to the deadline for filing their first quarterly or yearly income tax returns, whichever is earlier. The registration of new sets of manual books of accounts must be done before all the pages in the previously registered books have been consumed. 

Meanwhile, for existing business taxpayers or subsequent registration, the following guidelines shall apply:

  1. For manual books of accounts, these shall be registered before use of such books. New books of account must be registered before every full consumption of the pages of the previously registered books.
  2. Permanently bound loose-leaf books of accounts shall be registered within 15 days after the end of each taxable year or within 15 days from the closure of business operations, whichever comes earlier, unless extended by the Commissioner or his duly authorized representative, upon request of the taxpayer before the lapse of the said period. Renewal of registration is annual. 
  3. Computerized books of accounts shall be registered within 30 days from the close of each taxable year or within 30 days from the closure of operations, whichever comes earlier, unless extended by the Commissioner or his duly authorized representative, upon request of the taxpayer before the lapse of the said period. Renewal of registration is also annual.

Note that a taxpayer does not have to register new manual books of accounts every year. However, taxpayers are free to choose to use a fresh set of books of accounts every year. As discussed, new sets of manual books of accounts must be registered before use.

Online Registration and Update System Facility and QR Stamping

Users of the BIR ORUS can register their books of accounts by visiting http://orus.bir.gov.ph. The “QR Stamp,” that will be generated after successful registration must be put on the first page of the taxpayers’ manual books of accounts and permanently bound loose leaf books of accounts. If the books of account are computerized, a “QR Stamp” displaying the detailed contents of the USB flash drive on which the books of account and other accounting data are stored/saved are to be attached to the transmittal letter.

The QR Stamp shall contain the following taxpayer information:

  1. TIN;
  2. Registered Name;
  3. Registered Address; 
  4. Type of Book (Manual, Loose leaf, or Computerized); 
  5. Books Registered;
  6. Permit No./Acknowledgement Certificate Control No. (“ACCN”) – for Loose Leaf or Computerized;
  7. Permit To Use/ACCN Date Issued – for Loose Leaf or Computerized;
  8. Quantity;
  9. Volume No.;
  10. Date Registered;
  11. Date Approved; and
  12. QR Code.

During the initial implementation period of the online registration through ORUS, taxpayers will still be allowed to register and stamp their manual books of accounts at the Revenue District Office or Large Taxpayer Division/Office where the Head Office or Branch is registered.
To learn more about how to register through the ORUS facility, a manual guide has been provided by the BIR for taxpayers’ reference.