BIR guidelines for ORUS for online registration of books of accounts and using its QR stamps
The Bureau of Internal Revenue announces new policies for the online registration of Books of Accounts using ORUS and how to use the online generated QR stamps.
The Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) issued the Revenue Memorandum Circular (RMC) No. 3-2023 to further streamline registering books of accounts using the Online Registration and Update System (ORUS) facility for taxpayers. Thanks to the further digitisation of government processes, taxpayers can now complete various tax, audit, or accounting-related tasks by just going to a government website on their computers.
This circular was issued in response to the amendments in Revenue Memorandum Circular (RMC) 29-2019, which shall now reads as:
“Section 2. Registration of Books of Accounts (BAs)
- The RMC mandates that all books of accounts must be registered online using ORUS, replacing the previous method of manually stamping books of accounts with an automatically generated Quick Response (QR) code that will be validated online.
List of updated bookkeeping guidelines
The bureau then shared a list summarising the updated guidelines for bookkeeping and maintaining the books of accounts:
For new Business Registrants
Type of Books of Accounts | Deadline for Registration | Frequency |
1. Manual Books of Accounts | Before the deadline for filing the initial quarterly Income Tax return or the annual Income Tax return, whichever comes earlier | Before the whole consumption of the pages of the previously registered books |
For existing Business Taxpayers or Subsequent Registration
Type of Books of Accounts | Deadline for Registration | Frequency |
1. Manual Books of Accounts | Before the use of the books | Before the complete consumption of the pages of the previously registered books |
2. Permanently Bound Loose leaf Books of Accounts | Within fifteen (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 authorised representative upon the request of the taxpayer before the lapse of said period. | Annually |
3. Computerized Books of Accounts | Within thirty (30) 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 authorised representative upon the request of the taxpayer before the lapse of said period. | Annually |
The bureau clarifies that these new sets of manual books of accounts (BAs) don’t need to be registered every year. They explain that taxpayers can still use the new set of books of accounts yearly. Thus, the manual books of accounts (BAs) must be registered before their use.
Using Online Registration of Books of Accounts and QR stamping
The announcement explains that taxpayers must now exclusively use the BIR’s ORUS at htpps://orus.bir.gov.ph. Once a taxpayer is successfully registered, the system will generate the “QR stamp”, which they will need to paste on the first page of their manual books of accounts and to permanently bound loose leaf books of accounts. If the books of accounts is computerized, they must attach the “QR stamp” to the transmittal letter presenting the USB flash drive where content containing the books of accounts and other accounting records are stored/saved.
The QR Stamp (Annex) will have the following taxpayer information printed:
- TIN;
- Registered Name;
- Registered Address;
- Type of Book (Manual, Loose Leaf, or Computerized);
- Book Registered;
- Permit No./Acknowledgement Certificate Control No. (ACCN) – for Loose Leaf or Computerized
- PTU/ACCN Date issued – for Loose Leaf or Computerized
- Quantity;
- Volume No.
- Date Registered;
- Date Approved; and
- QR code
This QR code will also determine the authenticity of the printed QR stamp when scanned by any smartphone; this will redirect the taxpayer to the BIR ORUS website.
Transitory Provisions
Once the online registration of books of accounts through ORUS is implemented, taxpayers can still register and stamp their manual books of accounts at the Revenue District Office/ Large Tax Payer Division/Office where the Head Office or Branch is registered.
The Revenue District Office/ Large Taxpayer Division/Office shall announce and inform taxpayers under its jurisdiction that the registration of books of accounts can be done manually online.