Who are the large taxpayers?

THE Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) issued Revenue Regulations No. 17-2010 which consolidated the regulations implementing Republic Act No. 7646, an Act authorizing the Commissioner of Internal Revenue to prescribe the place for payment of internal revenue taxes by large taxpayers and prescribing the coverage and criteria for determining large taxpayers.

A “large taxpayer” under the regulations is a taxpayer, regardless of its location in the country, which has been classified and notified in writing by the BIR as one that has satisfied the criteria for determining large taxpayers.

The following taxpayers are automatically classified as candidate to be a large taxpayer and will be notified in writing as such by the BIR: 1) branches of a taxpayer under the Large Taxpayer Service; 2) subsidiaries, affiliates and entities of conglomerates/group of companies of a large taxpayer; 3) surviving company in case of merger/consolidation involving a large taxpayer; 4) any corporation that absorbs the operation/business in case of spin off/s of any large taxpayer; 5) corporations with an authorized capitalization of at least P300 million; 6) Multi-national enterprises with an authorized capitalization or assigned capital of at least P300 million; 7) publicly listed corporations; and 8) universal, commercial and foreign banks.

A taxpayer shall be classified as candidate to be a large taxpayer and will be notified in writing as such by the BIR if it satisfied any or a combination of the criteria set by the regulations as to tax payment and as to financial condition and results of operation. The criteria for tax payment looks at the taxes paid by the taxpayer such as the value added tax, excise tax, income tax, withholding tax, percentage tax, and documentary stamp tax. The criteria for the financial condition of the company looks at gross sales/receipts, net worth, and gross purchases of the company.

Furthermore, all large taxpayers are now required to file electronically all internal revenue taxes including other required documents, and pay electronically taxes due thereon through the Electronic Filing and Payment System.

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