SEC registration makes your company exist. BIR registration makes it able to operate — to issue invoices, keep proper books, and pay tax legally. It's the step right after incorporation, and skipping or fumbling it leaves you with a company that's real on paper but can't transact properly. Here's what the BIR stage involves.
Get your Certificate of Registration (Form 2303)
The anchor document is the BIR Certificate of Registration, known as Form 2303. You apply at the Revenue District Office that covers your principal place of business, and the COR is what lets you issue official invoices, pay taxes, and deal with government services as a registered taxpayer. Crucially, it also lists the specific tax types you're registered for — income tax, VAT or percentage tax, withholding, and so on — which is the BIR's record of exactly what you owe and file.
Tip
Read the tax types on your COR carefully when it's issued. They determine which returns you have to file. A wrong or missing tax type here causes filing headaches later, so catch it on day one.
Register your books of accounts
A registered company has to keep registered books. After your COR is released, you register your books of accounts with the BIR — and there's a clock on it: this is generally done within 30 days of the COR's release. These are the ledgers your bookkeeping lives in, and registering them is what makes your records official for tax purposes.
Set up your invoices
You also need the authority to issue invoices. Under the current rules, the invoice is your primary document for sales of both goods and services, so getting your invoicing set up correctly — printed or system-generated and BIR-registered — is part of going live. Until this is done, you can't issue the documents your customers and your own tax filings depend on.
What's changed for the better
Two things are worth knowing because they remove old burdens:
- No more annual registration fee. The Ease of Paying Taxes Act abolished the ₱500 yearly BIR registration fee. Your COR no longer expires or needs an annual renewal payment.
- File and pay anywhere. You're no longer locked to your home RDO for filing and payment — returns can be filed and taxes paid through any authorized agent bank or electronically.
The sequence in short
Think of the BIR stage as three moves on a 30-day clock: secure the COR (Form 2303), register your books of accounts, and set up your BIR-registered invoices. Get those done and your company is fully operational — able to bill, record, and remit. Leave any of them half-finished and you've got a registered company that still can't legally transact.
Key takeaways
- BIR Form 2303 (the Certificate of Registration) lets your company issue invoices and pay tax, and lists your tax types.
- Register your books of accounts with the BIR, generally within 30 days of the COR's release.
- Set up BIR-registered invoices — the invoice is your primary document for goods and services.
- The ₱500 annual registration fee is gone, and you can now file and pay through any agent bank or online.
Need help with this?
We handle the whole registration — structure, SEC, BIR, and permits — so it isn't on your shoulders.
See our registration service →