Clarifications on the Application for Permit to Use Loose-leaf Books of Accounts

ALL persons engaged in trade or business, or in the practice of profession registered with the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) are required to maintain books of accounts. The registered taxpayer determines which type to adopt as allowed by BIR – (1) Manual books of accounts, (2) Computerized books of accounts/Computerized Accounting Systems (CAS), or (3) Loose-leaf books of accounts. Should the taxpayer opt to use either the Computerized or Loose-leaf books of accounts, he must file an application for Permit to Use (PTU) with the BIR.

Recently, it has been observed that there is a confusion on the venue for filing the application for Permit to Use (PTU) Loose-leaf Books of Accounts due to the transfer of venue for filing PTU for CAS to the National Accreditation Board (NAB).

The Loose-leaf books of accounts is a recording of transactions through encoding of details in the computer and generating copies by printing this out using the approved looseleaf format to be bound as the bookkeeping record of the taxpayer. Revenue Memorandum Circular (RMC) No. 68-2017 clarified that although the use of Loose-leaf books is computer-aided, this is considered manual recording, hence its PTU should not be filed with the NAB.

Currently, the application for PTU Looseleaf Books of Accounts is within the jurisdiction of the Regional Director through its Legal Division pursuant to RMC No. 13-82. In line with BIR’s aim to promote ease of doing business, the processing of application and issuance of the PTU Loose-leaf books of accounts shall now be done by the concerned Revenue District Office (RDO), considering the geographical location of the Regional Offices (RO) compared to the RDO.

The requirements for evaluation and approval of the application remain the same as follows:

1. Duly accom-

plished BIR Form No. 1900; 2. Sample Format and printout to be used;

3. In lieu of the investigation pursuant to RMC No. 13-82, a Sworn Statement specifying: (i) the books to be used, invoices/receipts and other accounting records together with the serial numbers of principal and supplementary invoices/ receipts to be printed; and (ii) Commitment to permanently bind the loose-leaf forms within fifteen (15) days after the end of each taxable year or upon the termination of its use.

The PTU Loose-leaf books issued to the taxpayer’s Head Office (HO) shall cover all registered branches at the time of issuance. Updating of PTU shall be required for subsequent additional branches. A certified true copy of the PTU issued by the RDO of the HO must be furnished to each branch authorized to use the approved Loose-leaf books.

Source: P&A Grant Thornton; Certified Public Accountants; Punongbayan & Araullo (P&A) is the Philippine member firm of Grant Thornton International Ltd.