BIR extends ITR filing to May 30

THE Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) further extended to May 30 the deadline of the filing for annual income tax returns (ITRS) and payment of taxes due thereon.

BIR Commissioner Caesar R. Dulay and Finance Secretary Carlos G. Dominguez signed Revenue Regulations 10-2020 granting the extension of statutory deadlines and timelines for the filing and submission of any document and the payment of taxes.

The deadline for the filing of annual ITRS was previously extended to May 15 from the original April 15 schedule, to give taxpayers more time to prepare as President Duterte imposed a monthlong Luzon-wide lockdown in the race to stop the spread of Covid-19. That enhanced community quarantine was to end on April 13, but has since been extended to April 30. According to RR 10-2020 dated April 9, if the new extended due dates fall on a holiday or nonworking day, then the submission and or filing contemplated herein shall be made on the next working day.

If the enhanced community quarantine period will be extended further, the filing of returns and payment of the corresponding taxes due thereon and submission of reports and attachments falling within the enhanced extended period shall be extended for 30 calendar days from the lifting of the ECQ, the BIR said in the document.

Despite the deadline extension, the BIR still encourages taxpayers to pay taxes and file their returns early to help the government raise funds to fight Covid-19.

“Doctors, nurses, medical staff and other frontliners are risking their lives to help fight Covid-19. Paying our taxes early is our own share to help the fight against Covid-19. I already filed my own 2019 ITR and paid my income taxes,” BIR Deputy Commissioner Marissa O. Cabreros said in a message to the Businessmirror.

BIR has since said taxpayers who file their tax returns within the original deadline or prior to the extended deadline can amend their tax returns at any time on or before the extended due date.

An amendment that will result in additional tax to be paid can still be paid without the imposition of corresponding penalties, if the same is done not later than the extended deadline as provided under existing rules and regulations.

A taxpayer whose amended returns will result in overpayment of taxes paid may opt to carry over the overpaid tax as credit against tax due for the same tax type in the succeeding periods’ tax returns, aside from filing for claim for refund.

The BIR has also extended the deadline to avail of the tax amnesty on delinquencies from May 23 to June 8, 2020, according to Revenue Memorandum Circular 38-2020.