REVENUE REGULATIONS NO. 14-2010 issued on December 10, 2010 amends pertinent provisions of Revenue Regulations Nos. 11-2006 and 4-2010 on the accreditation of tax practitioners/agents as a prerequisite to their practice and representation before the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR). Only those tax agents/practitioners, partners or officers of General Professional Partnerships, or Officers or Directors of Corporate entities engaged in tax practice who have been issued Certificate of Accreditation or ID card shall be allowed to represent a taxpayer or transact business with the BIR in representation of a taxpayer for the purpose(s) defined in the regulations. The Commissioner or his authorized representative shall only consider as valid document/attachments to tax returns, information returns or other statements or reports required by the Code or Regulations, the financial statements prepared, signed and certified by duly accredited tax practitioners. The BIR can refuse to transact official business with tax practitioners who are not accredited before it and shall require that certain official statements such as returns, financial statements, reports, protests, requests for ruling, official correspondence and other statements, paper or documents filed on behalf of a taxpayer be signed or certified to by accredited persons which shall bear the following information below the signature of the latter: a. For individuals (CPAs, members of GPPs, and others) a.1 Tax Identification Number (TIN); and a.2 BIR Accreditation Number, Date of Issue, and Date of Expiry b. For members of the Philippine Bar (Lawyers) b.1 TIN; b.2 Attorney’s Roll Number; b.3 Mandatory Continuing Legal Education (MCLE) Compliance Number; and b.4 BIR Accreditation Number, Date of Issue and Date of Expiry It shall be the duty of the Revenue National Accreditation Board (RNAB) and Revenue Regional Accreditation Board (RRAB) to act upon all applications to practice before the BIR, to institute and provide for the conduct of accreditation, suspension or dis-accreditation proceedings and to perform such other duties as are necessary or appropriate to carry out their functions as prescribed by the Secretary of Finance. Provided, that any action or decision of the RNAB and RRAB shall be appealable to the Commissioner. Any adverse decision by the Commissioner may be appealed to the Secretary of Finance, who shall rule on the appeal within 60 days from receipt of such appeal. Failure of the Secretary of Finance to rule on the appeal within the prescribed period shall be deemed an affirmation of the decision of the Commissioner denying the accreditation. In relation to the minimum qualification of applicants for individual tax agents (other than a member of the Philippine Bar), he/she must have completed at least 6 hours per year or a total of 18 hours for the 3 years of Continuing Professional Education (CPE) in taxation from trainings/seminars conducted by the BIR or from private institutions where the number of training hours earned are printed on the certificates and obtained not more than a year prior to the application/renewal for accreditation. Individual applicants shall submit, together with their duly accomplished application forms, the following documents: a. Certificate of Registration with the Board of Accountancy (BOA) and current license with the Professional Regulations Commission, if a CPA, or Attorney’s Roll Number and MCLE Compliance Number, if a Lawyer; b. Certificate of Membership in Good Standing with his/her/its PICPA Chapter or ACCPA (for CPAs) or Integrated Bar of the Philippines (for lawyers); c. Certificate of Good Moral Character issued by two (2) disinterested persons, who are either member of the BAR or CPA in good standing; d. If not a Certified Public Accountant: d.1 Certified copy of transcript of records from the university or college showing compliance with at least eighteen (18) units in accounting or taxation as prescribed in Section 4(A)(2). d.2 Written certification of CPE units of at least six (6) hours per year or a total of eighteen (18) hours for the three years in taxation conducted by the BIR (e.g. Revenue Regions, Revenue District Offices, etc.) or from private institutions (e.g. tax/auditing firms, educational or training institutions, professional organizations, etc.), where the number of training hours earned are printed on the certificates and obtained not more than a year prior to the application/renewal for accreditation. e. A written undertaking under oath to preserve working papers within the period prescribed under Section 235 of the National Internal Revenue Code of 1997, as amended, and making them available to the Bureau’s authorized representative/s when required or directed to do so. Within 60 days prior to the expiration of the accreditation, tax agents/practitioners may apply for renewal of their accreditation. In addition to the requirements provided under Section 4 of the Regulations, certified true copies of the following documents shall be submitted for the renewal of accreditation: a. PRC ID for CPAs/Integrated bar of the Philippines (IBP) ID for lawyers; b. Current Certificate of Registration with the Board of Accountancy (BOA)/IBP; c. Current Professional Tax Receipt (PTR) for individuals or Business Permit/Municipal License for non-individuals issued by the local government where registered; d. Certificate of Membership in Good Standing with his/her/its PICPA Chapter or ACCPA (for CPAs) or IBP (for lawyers); e. Certificate of Training at least 6 hours per year or a total of 18 hours for the 3 years of CPE in taxation from trainings/seminars conducted by the BIR or from private institutions where the number of training hours earned are printed on the certificates and obtained not more than a year prior to the renewal for accreditation; f. Expired Certificate of Accreditation issued by the BIR; g. Annual Registration Fee of P 500 per year (current year and past three years); h. Alphalist of Taxpayers Audited for the past 3 years showing the Registered Name, TIN, engagement period, Letter of Authority (LOA)/Tax Verification Number (TVN), if any; i. Sworn Statement that the individual/partnership/firm has observed the conditions and provisions prescribed on accreditation with affixed documentary stamp tax; j. Income Tax Return (ITR) of the previous 2 years. The RNAB/RRAB shall make a random review of the financial statements audited by the accredited external auditor and their compliance with the above. Non-compliance with any of the provisions on accreditation shall be a ground for the revocation/cancellation of his/her/its accreditation. An external auditor whose accreditation has been cancelled may re-apply for accreditation after two years. Provided, that no further re-accreditation shall be granted after two (2) cancellations. In the re-application, the procedures and requirements for renewal shall be observed.