Issue Receipts or You're Closed!

The Bureau of Internal Revenue or BIR has just recently issued Revenue Memorandum
Order (RMO) 3-2009, or "Oplan Kandado", which targets the strengthening of BIR's imposition of the prescribed sanctions for non-compliance with the issuance of receipts, filing of returns, declaration of taxable transactions, taxpayer registration and paying the correct amount of taxes.

The said RMO provides the policies and procedural guidelines in the conduct of surveillance operations and implementation providing sanctions such as suspension and temporary closure of business.

Under the Tax Code of 1997, all persons subject to internal revenue tax are required to issue an invoice for each sale of goods and an official receipt for services rendered valued at P25 or more.

For VAT-registered taxpayers, invoices and official receipts are required for all transactions. Failure to issue invoices/receipts is a ground for suspension of business operations and temporary closure of the business establishment.

Also, failure to issue invoices/receipts could also be a basis for assessing undeclared revenues if the revenues declared in the income tax or VAT returns are less than the revenues estimated from the surveillance operations.

As a general rule, all surveillance activities shall be covered by mission
orders to be issued by the authorized revenue official. No surveillance
activities shall be conducted and no apprehension shall be effected unless
a mission order has been issued.

See the full text of the RMO here...