BIR registration

Once your company is incorporated with the SEC, it isn't ready to operate yet. Before you can issue receipts, hire employees, or pay taxes legally, you need to register with the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR). This is where your company gets recognized as a taxpayer.

Here's how it works.

Korp handles BIR registration for you today — our team runs the process end to end. We're also building it into your dashboard, so you'll soon track it the same way you track your incorporation. Questions in the meantime? Talk to an expert.

What BIR registration actually does#

BIR registration is the step that turns your incorporated company into an active, tax-paying business. It:

• Gives your corporation its own Tax Identification Number (TIN)
• Authorizes you to issue official receipts and invoices
• Puts you on record for the specific taxes your business is liable for

Without it, you can't legally bill clients or run payroll.

When it happens in the sequence#

BIR registration comes after SEC incorporation, not before. The order matters:

1. SEC issues your Certificate of Incorporation — your company legally exists.
2. BIR registers the company as a taxpayer and assigns its TIN.
3. LGU (your city or municipality) issues the local business permit for where you operate.

Some of these overlap in practice, but you can't register with the BIR until the SEC has issued your certificate, because the BIR needs proof the company exists. If you're still mid-incorporation, see the incorporation process for where you are in that journey.

What you'll need#

For a domestic corporation, the BIR typically asks for:

• SEC Certificate of Incorporation, plus your Articles of Incorporation and By-laws
• The completed BIR registration form (currently Form 1903 for corporations and partnerships)
• Proof of business address (lease contract or proof of ownership)
• Valid IDs of the incorporators and authorized signatory
• Documentary Stamp Tax payment on the original issuance of shares

Every incorporator and director needs their own personal TIN before the process can move forward — Filipino or foreign. Filipino incorporators usually already have one; foreign incorporators typically need a fresh registration, which is a common source of delay for foreign-owned setups, so it's worth sorting early.

The registration steps#

The BIR process itself breaks down into a few stages:

1. Get the company TIN#

The corporation is issued its own Tax Identification Number, separate from any personal TINs of the incorporators.

2. Pay the registration and stamp taxes#

This includes the Documentary Stamp Tax on the subscribed capital — currently 0.75% of the subscribed amount. This is a real cash outlay that scales with your capitalization, so budget for it.

3. Register your books of accounts#

Your accounting records — journals and ledgers, whether manual, loose-leaf, or computerized — have to be registered with the BIR before you start recording transactions.

4. Get authority to issue receipts and invoices#

You can't legally issue an official receipt until the BIR authorizes it. This used to run through the Authority to Print system; the BIR has been shifting toward electronic invoicing, so the exact mechanics depend on your setup and the current rules.

5. Register for the right tax types#

Based on your business, the BIR records which taxes you're liable for — corporate income tax, VAT or percentage tax, withholding taxes on payroll and purchases, and so on.

What you're signing up for after registration#

Registration isn't a one-time event. Once you're in the system, you have recurring obligations:

Missing deadlines or filing incorrectly carries penalties, so most companies set up a compliance calendar or bring in help from the start.

A note on timing and cost#

For a corporation, expect the BIR portion to take a few days to a couple of weeks once your SEC certificate is in hand, depending on the Revenue District Office (RDO) handling your address and how clean your documents are.

The Documentary Stamp Tax is the main variable cost, since it's a percentage of your subscribed capital rather than a flat fee.

What you'll see in your dashboard#

A preview of what we're building. Names and steps may change — the service itself is available today, handled by our team.

BIR registration will work like your incorporation: you start it from your dashboard, and a progress tracker with status pills shows exactly where it stands.

Starting it. Once your incorporation reaches Company registered, your dashboard will offer to start BIR registration. Most of what the BIR asks for — your SEC certificate, Articles, incorporator details, business address — carries over from your incorporation, so you confirm rather than re-enter.

Tracking it. The planned stages:

1. bir preparation — we prepare Form 1903 and your supporting documents, and compute the Documentary Stamp Tax due on your shares.
2. filed with rdo — your application is lodged with the Revenue District Office covering your address, and the registration taxes are settled.
3. books and invoicing — your books of accounts are registered and your authority to issue receipts and invoices is processed.
4. bir registered — your Certificate of Registration is issued and available in your dashboard, alongside your SEC documents.