For decades, Philippine businesses lived by a simple split: sell goods, issue a sales invoice; sell services, issue an official receipt. The Ease of Paying Taxes (EOPT) Act rewrote that rule. As of the changeover, the invoice is the single primary document for both, and the official receipt has been demoted to a supporting role. If you sell services, this changed what you have to issue — and getting it wrong affects your customers' taxes. Here's where things stand.
What changed
Under the EOPT Act (Republic Act No. 11976) and its implementing rules (Revenue Regulations No. 7-2024), the invoice replaced the official receipt as the primary document evidencing a sale of services. The law now treats a single document — the invoice — as the primary support for both goods and services. The official receipt didn't disappear, but it's now a supplementary document, not the one that proves the sale for tax purposes.
| Before EOPT | After EOPT |
|---|---|
| Goods → sales invoice | Goods → invoice |
| Services → official receipt | Services → invoice |
| OR proved the sale of services | OR is now supplementary only |
Why it matters for VAT
This isn't just paperwork relabeling. The primary document is what supports a buyer's input VAT claim. After the changeover, an official receipt issued for a sale of services is a supplementary document — it does not, on its own, support the buyer's input tax. So if you're still handing customers an OR for your services, you may be giving them a document they can't fully use, and exposing yourself to issues on your own output side.
Tip
If you run a services business that historically issued official receipts, the action is concrete: issue invoices as your primary document. An OR can still accompany a payment, but it's no longer the document that does the tax work.
The transition is already behind us
When RR 7-2024 took effect in April 2024, the BIR allowed a bridge: businesses could strike through "Official Receipt" on existing printed stock, stamp "Invoice," and use it — but only until December 31, 2024. Official receipts issued after that date are treated as supplementary and can't support a buyer's input tax claim.
That window has closed. By 2026, you should already be issuing proper invoices as your primary document, not relying on converted or leftover receipt stock. If your printed materials or your accounting system still default to official receipts for services, that's a gap to fix now, not a transition you still have time to plan for.
What to check
- Your printed documents. The primary document you hand customers should be an invoice.
- Your system settings. POS and accounting software should generate invoices as the primary document for both goods and services.
- What your suppliers give you. If a service provider hands you only an official receipt, you may be missing the document your own input VAT depends on.
Key takeaways
- Under EOPT (RA 11976) and RR 7-2024, the invoice is the primary document for both goods and services.
- The official receipt is now supplementary — it no longer proves a sale of services on its own.
- An OR issued for services doesn't support the buyer's input VAT claim.
- The strike-through transition ended December 31, 2024 — by now you should be fully on invoices.
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