THE Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) said it will allow businesses to issue temporary receipts or invoices during the lockdown period.

In Revenue Memorandum Circular No. 47-2020 issued May 6 and published Tuesday, the BIR allowed workarounds adopted by businesses that needed to issue receipts and invoices during the quarantine period.

The Bureau said the seller must immediately issue authorized receipts or invoices once the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) is lifted, replacing all temporary receipts or invoices issued during the lockdown.

“These temporary receipts/invoices should be prioritized in the issuance of authorized receipts/invoices over the current transactions. It should be noted that the actual date of transaction must be indicated in the authorized manual receipts/invoices to be issued,” according to the circular.

The Bureau said a copy of the temporary receipt will also have to be attached to the file copy for audit purposes while a summary list of temporary receipts or invoices issued must be submitted to the BIR 90 days after the ECQ is lifted.

It said businesses which adopted workarounds will also have to submit a formal letter, via email, to inform the Bureau within three days after the effectivity of the circular. BIR said some businesses faced difficulties in issuing authorized receipts, due to the expiration of Authority to Print (ATP) labels of manually issued receipts during the lockdown period and the unavailability of receipts or invoices due to business shutdowns.

It said sending the receipts have also been “impossible” due to business closures and other movement restrictions during the ECQ period.

“Considering the above mentioned issues and concerns, in case that the duly authorized or approved receipts/invoices shall be inaccessible or unavailable due to the implementation of ECQ, the business taxpayers may opt to use any of the following (measures),” it said.

For instance, the BIR said enterprises may opt to use a scanned copy of receipts or invoices with ATP or an electronic receipt or invoice in excel format not covered by an ATP. These must be issued electronically in JPEG or PDF format to customers.

It said businesses can also issue supplementary receipts such as delivery and acknowledgment receipts in place of principal ones such as official receipts and sales invoices.

Receipts or invoices using existing or generated via a newly developed computerized accounting system have also been allowed, even with pending permits to use or acknowledgment certificates. — Beatrice M. Laforga

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