REVENUE MEMORANDUM CIRCULAR NO. 17-2019 issued on January 24, 2019 prescribes the new BIR Form No. 1701A, which is available in the BIR Forms-Income Tax Return section of the BIR website (www.bir.gov.ph).

The new return (BIR Form No. 1701A) shall be used by Individuals Earning Income Purely from Business/Profession who are under the graduated Income Tax rates with Optional Standard Deduction as mode of deductions or those who opted to avail of the 8% flat Income Tax rate, in filing the annual Income Tax Return and paying the Income Tax due starting the year 2018, which is due on or before April 15, 2019.

The new return is already available in the Offline Electronic Bureau of Internal Revenue Forms (eBIRForms) Package v7.3. Manual filers as well as eBIRForms filers shall download the PDF version of the form, print and fill out the applicable fields. Payment of the Income Tax due thereon, if any, shall be made thru:
a. Manual Payment
 Authorized Agent Bank (AAB) located within the territorial jurisdiction of the Revenue District Office (RDO) where the taxpayer is registered
 In places where there are no AABs, the return shall be filed and the tax due shall be paid with the concerned Revenue Collection Officer (RCO) under the jurisdiction of the RDO using the Mobile Revenue Collection Officers System (MRCOS) facility
b. Online Payment
 Thru GCash Mobile Payment
 Landbank of the Philippines (LBP), Linkbiz Portal, for taxpayers who have ATM account with LBP and/or holders of Bancnet ATM/Debit Card
 DBP Tax Online, for holders of VISA/Master Credit Card and/or Bancnet ATM/Debit Card

The new return is not yet available in the Electronic Filing and Payment System (eFPS). As a work-around procedure, the eFPS filers shall use the new return in the Offline eBIRForms Package v7.3 to file the annual Income Tax Return for the year 2018. The payment of the Income Tax due, if any, shall be made either thru manual payment or online payment, as specified above.

In case the eFPS filers had already filed and paid the Income Tax due for the year 2018 using the old return (BIR Form No. 1701), the taxpayer is still required to file the annual Income Tax Return using the new BIR Form No. 1701A in the Offline eBIRForms Package v7.3 and mark the return as an amended return.

Taxpayer shall fill out the applicable fields/items in the new return and if there is any payment made using the old return, he/she shall indicate the amount paid in Item No. 61 (Tax Paid in Return Previously Filed, if this is an Amended Return) of the new return. If the computation resulted to a payable, taxpayer shall pay the tax still due thereon (either thru manual payment or online payment, as specified above).