Is e-invoicing mandatory in Philippines ?
Electronic invoicing has been allowed in the Philippines for more than a decade. At this juncture, e-documents carry the same value as paper-based documents.
However, in practice, the country keeps its tradition based heavily on paper. The shift towards a new e-invoicing system requires a cultural change and is most likely the reason as to why the Government decided to roll out the mandate gradually, including a pilot stage.
To be part of the companies connected the e-invoicing system, entities must obtain permission to use the Computerized Accounting System (CAS) from the tax authorities and become accredited.
In 2018, the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion (TRAIN) Act was introduced and now requires that taxpayers engaged in the export of goods and services, e-commerce, and large taxpayers shall issue e-invoices, e-receipts and reports. TRAIN is expected to complete this phase in of 2023.
The Philippines Department of Finance (DOF) launched a pilot program for e-invoicing in July 2022 making mandatory issuing e-invoices for the 100 largest taxpayers and include plans to advance a phased roll-out in 2023 for other taxpayers.
Want to learn more about e-Invoicing compliance?
Download our Global e-invoicing and Tax Compliance fact sheet here for more information.
Archiving
Accounting records can be stored in electronic format, provided hard copies can be made available at any time for inspection by the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR).
Generally, an organisation must retain its accounting records for a period of at least 10 years to be counted from the due date for the filing of the return, or the date of the actual filing, whichever is later. However, records pertaining to a particular year or years under tax audit by the BIR should be preserved until final resolution of any tax assessment is issued for the said year(s).
The original of each receipt of invoice shall be kept and preserved in the place of business of the purchaser for a period of 3 years from the close of the taxable year in which such invoice or receipt was issued. Likewise, the duplicate shall be kept and preserved by the issuer for the same period.
Want to know more about Basware’s archiving services?
Download our Basware Vault fact sheet here to learn more about our flexible and scalable solution.
Basware Services
Basware offers CloudScan for clients to scan their paper invoices through optical character recognition (OCR) technology as well as Scan & Capture services.
Want to find out how we can help in your specific case?
Speak to a member of our team to learn more.
Interoperability
Basware currently has no connections to any interoperability partners in the Philippines.
Our advice
Currently we advise customers in the Philippines to use Cloudscan with self-validation for light volumes or to use Scan & Capture for higher transaction volumes.
Want to understand how we can help in your case?
Get in touch with our experts.
