REVENUE MEMORANDUM CIRCULAR NO. 14-2025 issued on February 19, 2025 clarifies certain issues pertaining to the mandatory requirements for Tax Credit or Refund of Excess/Unutilized Creditable Withholding Taxes (CWT) on Income pursuant to Section 76(C), in relation to Sections 204(C) and 229 of the National Internal Revenue Code (NIRC), as amended.

Transmission of documents such as the BIR Form No. 2307 is not limited only to the physical delivery of documents from the sender to the receiver, which could also be through digital means such as but not limited to electronic mails, facsimile, cellphones, or other emerging technologies. Hence, the copies produced and submitted by the recipient of BIR Form No. 2307 may necessarily be the original copy.

Included in the verification procedures of the processing office is the validation of the authenticity and veracity of the claimed BIR Form No. 2307 by comparing the CWT claimed per Summary Alphalist of Withholding Agents of Income Payments Subjected to Withholding Tax as Source (SAWT) submitted by the taxpayer claimant with the annual or quarterly Alphalist of payees as attached in the BIR Form No. 1604E or 1601E submitted by the withholding agents of the taxpayer-claimant. If the data matches, the BIR can already by assured that the BIR Form 2307 claimed by the taxpayer-claimant is valid and authentic which makes the question as to whether or not the submitted document is an original copy already moot and academic.

In this regard and for consistency of application, the third item in Annex A.1 of Revenue Memorandum Circular (RMC) No. 75-2024 shall now read as: “Copies of duly accomplished Certificate of Creditable Tax Withheld at Source (BIR Form No. 2307) or Withholding Tax Remittance Return for Onerous Transfer of Real Property Other Than Capital Asset (BIR Form No. 1606), whichever is applicable, issued by the payor (withholding agent) to the payee”. If the taxpayer claimant is engaged in real estate business, a reproduction of the original copy of the Withholding Tax Remittance Return for Onerous Transfer of Real Property Other Than Capital Asset (BIR Form No. 1606) would suffice for the processing office to verify from the BIR database its authenticity and veracity.

Section 76 of the Tax Code covers tax credit or refund claims of CORPORATIONS as defined under Section 22(B) of the Tax Code. For individual taxpayers, the claim may be anchored under Section 58(E), in relation to Section 204 of the Tax Code, to quote:

“Sec. 58. Returns and Payment of Taxes withheld at Source. –

xxx xxx xxx

E. Income of Recipient. – Income upon which any creditable tax is required to be withheld at source under Section 57 shall be included in the return of its recipient but the excess of the amount of tax so withheld over the tax due on his return shall be refunded to him subject to the provisions of Section 204. xxx”

A new set of mandatory requirements will be prescribed for individual taxpayers who intend to claim for tax credit or refund unutilized CWT pursuant to Section 58(E), in relation to Section 204 of the Tax Code. However, the general policies and guidelines in the mandatory documentary requirements in RMC No. 75-2024 and the procedures in the processing hereof pursuant to Revenue Memorandum Order (RMO) No. 25-2024 remain the same for both corporate and individual taxpayer-claimants.

Once the claim for Income Tax credit has been filed or an Electronic Letter of Authority has been issued covering the same period of the claim, the taxpayer-claimant is already precluded from amending the tax returns. In the existing procedures for processing of Income Tax credit/refund, certain BIR Forms are no longer required to be submitted by the taxpayer claimants but the processing offices are mandated to verify and produce copies of the said tax returns filed by the taxpayer to be attached to the corresponding tax docket of the claim. Once the application for Income Tax credit or refund has been officially received by the processing office of the BIR and the verification process commences, only the tax returns filed on or before the receipt of the application shall be considered in the evaluation of the claim. Should there be discrepancies, this may result in the disallowance of the portion of the claim or full denial thereto.

To effect the changes above, Annex “A.1” is renumbered as Annex “A.1.1” and Annex “A.1.2” is added as the mandatory requirements for individual taxpayer-claimant. Copies of the said Annexes are attached in the Circular for reference. This correspondingly amends Annexes “A.1”, “A.2” and “A.4” of RMC No. 75-2024.