REVENUE MEMORANDUM ORDER NO. 23-2016 issued on June 8, 2016 prescribes the
internal rules and procedures on the rendition of overtime (OT) services of BIR personnel.
Only appointive and salaried civilian BIR employees holding regular, contractual, and
casual positions of division chief or equivalent level and below, may be authorized to render OT
services with pay or compensation. Incumbents of positions of division chief or equivalent level
and below, designated as Officers-in-Charge of higher level positions, may also be authorized to
render OT services.
The rendition of OT services shall be authorized only when extremely necessary, such as
when a particular work or activity cannot be completed within the regular work hours and that
non-completion of the same will cause financial loss to the government or its instrumentalities;
embarrass the government due to its inability to meet its commitments; and negate the purposes
for which the work or activity was conceived.
As a general rule, the remuneration for OT services shall be through Compensatory TimeOff (CTO), availment of which shall be in accordance with the following:
a. Each employee may accrue not more than forty (40) hours of OT services rendered in
a month. In no instance, however, shall the unexpended balance exceed one hundred
twenty (120) hours;
b. CTO may be availed of in blocks of four (4) or eight (8) hours and must be filed in
advance. If the employee applied for a CTO, he is not allowed to work OT on the day
he is on CTO;
c. The employee may use the CTO continuously up to a maximum of five (5) consecutive
days per single availment or on staggered basis within one year;
d. The CTO should be used as time-off within the year these are earned until the
immediately succeeding year. Thereafter, any unutilized OT services rendered are
deemed forfeited;
e. The Head of Office shall approve/disapprove schedule of CTO as requested by the
employee without compromising the delivery of services to clientele.
The payment in cash of OT services through OT pay may be authorized only in exceptional
cases when the application of CTO for all OT hours would adversely affect the operations of the
agency.
The priority activities that may warrant rendition of necessary OT services and the period
of OT services in a workday for a full-time employee are specified in the Order.
Entitlement to OT pay is with the strict condition that only employees who arrive on or
before the start of the workday shall be allowed to render OT work, provided that at least two (2)
hours of OT services are rendered. Thus, employees who arrived late or who have incurred
undertime/s or tardiness shall not be allowed to render OT work with pay. One-hour breaks shall
be observed for breakfast, lunch, or supper and rest, and every 3 hours of continuous OT service,
or as may be necessary.
Employees who are on training/seminar within the BIR premises may be authorized to
render OT services. However, they are required to time-in (8:00am), break-out (12:00pm) and
break-in (12:00-1:00pm) and check-out (5:00pm). Owing to the limitations of the existing
biometric system, the bundy clock shall be used for the time-in and time-out of their OT services.
The period of OT services shall not be used to offset undertime.
No employee shall be allowed to render overnight service for more than 2 consecutive
nights. Only a maximum of 12 hours of OT services on a rest day or scheduled day off, holiday or
special non-working day, shall be compensated through OT pay. Any excess over 12 hours shall
be compensated through CTO.
The total OT pay of an employee in a year shall not exceed 50% of his/her total basic salary
for the year. The OT pay shall be based on the hourly rate of an employee and to the applicable
premium on the hourly rate, depending on the day such OT service was rendered.
The total amount of OT pay to be spent by an agency shall not exceed 5% of its total
Personnel Services budget for a given year. Any grant of OT pay in excess of the 5% limit shall
be subject to approval of the Department of Budget and Management (DBM).
The Commissioner of Internal Revenue, thru the recommendation of concerned Assistant
Commissioner/Regional Director, shall approve requests for authority to render OT services
indicating the name of personnel, position and assigned task; purpose or expected outputs; and
specific period of such services. Personnel under the jurisdiction of the Office of the Deputy
Commissioner (DCIR) shall be recommended by the concerned DCIR.
The BIR, thru the Budget Division/Finance Division, shall submit to the DBM’s Budget
and Management Bureau or Regional Office concerned, copy furnished the Civil Service
Commission, the “Report on OT Services with Pay” using the template in Annex A of the Order
on or before March 31 of every year.