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The much-awaited promise to the Filipino taxpayers and one of the government’s crown jewels, the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion (TRAIN), took effect on Jan. 1.

My employed friend recently requested me to compute her annual income tax due for the prior year 2017. Her gross compensation from her lone employer was less than P250,000. I arrived at her annual income tax due after deducting the taxes withheld by her employer. I told her then that, if she receives the same amount of compensation this year, there will be no more withholding tax and annual income tax due. To my surprise, her employer continuously withheld tax on her January and February 2018 salary, even if she has been receiving the same monthly salary since last year. This was despite the passage and effectivity of the TRAIN Law effective Jan. 1, 2018 and notwithstanding the other pertinent issuances by the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) early this year. Her employer explained that their reason for the continuous withholding was that they were still waiting for the BIR’s specific guidelines on implementing the new compensation tax rule in the TRAIN law.

We are about to enter the fourth month of implementation of the TRAIN law and, to this day, taxpayers still have questions about withholding taxes. The Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) finally issued Revenue Regulations (RR) No. 11-2018, discussing some amendments to withholding tax regulations (i.e., RR No. 2-98, as amended) effective Jan. 1, 2018.

AMONG the changes brought about by the implementation of Republic Act No. 10963 or the TRAIN Law are the revised tax rates for final tax and percentage tax. However, the tax returns/forms for these taxes have not yet been updated and reflected in the electronic Filing and Payment System (eFPS) and electronic BIR (eBIR) forms. Pending the revision or enhancement of the returns/forms, the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) issued Revenue Memorandum Circular (RMC) No. 2-2018 on Jan. 8.

One of the concerns of corporate taxpayers is how to optimize their assets, including input value-added tax (VAT), for day-to-day operations. When the input VAT remains unutilized for a long period, however, it becomes a trapped asset.

THE Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) has issued Revenue Memorandum Circular No.1-2018, lowering the expanded withholding tax (EWT) rate on income payments to self-employed individuals and professionals to eight percent from 10 percent or 15 percent, regardless of the amount of income payment.

IN line with Republic Act (RA) No. 10963, also known as the “Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion (TRAIN)”, the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) has circularized the revised withholding tax table through its Revenue Memorandum Circular (RMC) No. 105-2017.

TO ease the burden of common taxpayers and to provide additional resources for funding social and economic infrastructure that will benefit the poor, President Rodrigo R. Duterte signed into law on Dec. 19 Republic Act (RA) No. 10963. Also known as the “Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion (TRAIN),” the Act amends and repeals certain provisions of the previously amended RA No. 8424, otherwise known as the National Internal Revenue Code of 1997.