BIR Form 2316: What to Know and How to file it

What is BIR Form No. 2316?

The Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) Form 2316, also known as the Certificate of Compensation Payment or Tax Withheld for Compensation Payment, is a certificate issued by the employer to its employees receiving any forms of remuneration such as salaries or wages during the calendar year.

The form is a comprehensive account of the total amount paid by the employer to all its employees including all the withheld taxes from January to December. BIR Form 2316 is usually issued by the employer to the employee on or before the 31st of January or in case an employee's contract is terminated for whatsoever reasons together with the last payment of salaries as stipulated in the Revenue Regulation (RR) Series of 1998, Sec. 2.83.1.

Employers' Responsibilities:

The important dates to remember in relation to the BIR Form 2316 submission and receipt include:

• January 31 of each year
• February 28 of each year

January 31st. In accordance with the Revenue Regulations (RR) No. 11 Series of 2013, Sec. 2.83.1, it is the responsibility of every employer to furnish their employees - from whose compensation taxes have been withheld - original and duplicate copies of BIR Form No. 2316.

Please take note that employers of Minimum Wage Earners (MWEs) are still required to issue BIR Form No. 2316 to their employees on or before January 31 of the following year.

Failure to comply with such regulation is a ground for the mandatory audit of payer’s income tax liabilities (these include withholding tax) upon verified complaint of the payee.

February 28th. The BIR Form No. 2316 should be signed by both the employer and the employee. Once signed, the BIR Forms 2316 of all employees must be submitted by the employer to the BIR substituted filing not later than February 28th of the following calendar year.

• Penalty of P1,000 for each failure subject to a maximum amount of P25,000 for all failures during the calendar year.
• Failure to abide for two consecutive years will be punished by a fine not less than P10,000 and imprisonment of not less than 1 year but not more than 10 years.
• In settlement under this situation, compromise fee shall be P1,000 for each BIR form 2316 not filed without any maximum threshold.

Update:

As per the Revenue Regulations (RR) No. 2 Series of 2015, all taxpayers registered with the Large Taxpayers Services (LTS) are required to provide the Bureau of Internal Revenue with soft copies of the Form No. 2316 in pdf format using a DVD-R in lieu of hard copies.

As for non-LTS taxpayers duly registered under the Revenue District Office​s​, they may comply with the said requirements provided that​ they shall no longer be allowed to submit in hard copies once ​they opted ​for the scanned copies. This means that, at their option, they may submit hard copies or soft copies of BIR FORM 2316. But once they opt to submit the form in soft copies, they will no longer be allowed to submit in hard copies thereafter.

In submission of soft copies of the BIR Form No. 2316 (Certificate of Compensation Payment), the following procedures must be strictly observed:

          1. Scan the BIR FORM 2316.

• One employee/BIR form No. 2316 per PDF File

          2. PDF files should follow the following filename:

• EmployeeSurname_EmployeeTin_TaxablePeriod
• e.g. DelaCruz_123456789_12312017

          3. The PDF files should be arranged alphabetically.

          4. Use a Digital Versatile Disk-Recordable (DVD-R) in saving the pdf files when submitting to the BIR.

• Label the DVD-R using the format prescribed in Annex B of RR No. 2-2015

          5. Have the certification notarized and prepared according to Annex C of RR No. 2-2015 and have it signed by the authorized representative of the taxpayer.

• This is to certify that the soft copies of the said BIR form contained in the DVD-R are complete and exact copies of the original thereof.Submit the DVD-R and notarized certification to the BIR where the taxpayer is duly registered not later than February 28.

In addition, employers must also ensure that the figures indicated in the BIR Form No. 2316 are matched with the figures reported in the Alphalist of employees attached in BIR FORM 1604CF. In this case, the BIR Program Alphalist Data Entry and Validation Module will be handy.