DOF readies pilot launch of e-invoicing

MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Finance (DOF) is eyeing to pilot next year the electronic receipts and invoicing system to facilitate tax administration and ease transactions for taxpayers.

During an online forum conducted by the Makati Business Club, Finance Undersecretary Antonette Tionko said the DOF is targeting to test the e-invoicing and electronic sales reporting system next year.

“In light of the pandemic, we in the DOF plan to speed up the implementation. As you may have heard, we are looking at the Korean model for e-invoicing and we are actually working with the Koreans for a pilot project. Hopefully next year, that project will be up and running already,” Tionko said.

She said the rollout of the system would be done in phases as not all business establishments are immediately ready for the new system.

“Mostly it’s going to be large taxpayers because they have computerized accounting systems. That is a must before you could actually do e-invoicing and e-receipts. We will have a pilot first and then expand it,” she said.

Section 237 of Republic Act 10963 or the TRAIN Law provides that large taxpayers and exporters in the country will be required within the next five years to electronically issue their invoices or receipts, as well as report their sales data to the BIR at the point-of-sale.

Earlier, the DOF said the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) tapped Korea International Cooperation Agency to fund the implementation of the program.

Tionko said setting up an e-invoicing and e-receipt system is expected to give taxpayers “a sense of security on each payment made, as well as convenience on daily transactions.”

In preparation for the shift to electronic invoicing, the DOF official said regulators have eased the requirements for the utilization of computerized accounting systems.

“You don’t have to have a permit before you can use a computerized accounting system. You can use and and just go through a reporting requirement at the BIR,” Tiokno said.

In addition, she said the government may need to amend some of its laws, specifically those that require taxpayers to keep physical copies of receipts.

“To the best of my knowledge, it keeps all the records digital. There is no more need to keep the physical document. That is based on my understanding of their system,” Tionko said.

“Having said that, if that were to be applied in the Philippines, we should also work on some of our legislation which still requires you to keep physical and the regulations,” she added.

For instance, she said tax courts require physical copies as evidence for refund claims.