How to File BIR Form 1604-E in Philippines?

By: Hergie Anne C. De Guzman, CPA

The compliance for the filing of expanded withholding taxes does not end with the monthly and quarterly filings. At year end, an Annual Information Return of Creditable Income Taxes Withheld (Expanded)/Income Payments Exempt from Withholding Tax or the BIR Form 1604-E should be filed by the taxpayers. 

What are the covered transactions for BIR Form 1604-E?

Basically, the return is a summary of the expanded withholding taxes for the year, the amount of remittance made, including penalties, if any, and the date of remittance. It is only an information return, hence, no tax due is computed for this. 

The information return covers the transactions relating to the expanded withholding taxes on certain income payments specified in Section 2.57.2 of Revenue Regulations (RR) No. 2-1998:

• Rental payments, professional fees, contractors, payments to regular suppliers, etc. reported in BIR Forms Nos. 0619-E and 1601-EQ; and, 
• Sale, transfer, or exchange of real properties classified as ordinary assets reported in BIR Form No. 1606.

How to file BIR Form 1604-E in Philippines?

The return has two (2) parts. 

Part I is the background information of the taxpayer as follows:

Part II is the summary of the remittances per BIR Form 1601-EQ and BIR Form 1606. The following details are needed for the summary:

1. Date of remittance
2. Drawee bank/bank code
3. TRA/eROR/eAR Number
4. Taxes withheld
5. Penalties, if any
6. Total amount remitted

The return was modified in 2019 through Revenue Memorandum Circular No. 73-2019 to include additional background information such as the TWA status (Field 8A) and to reflect the quarterly reporting based on the new expanded withholding tax returns. However, up to the date of writing this article, the modified return is still not yet available in the eBIR Forms and eFPS. 

Required Attachments

The information return has required attachments as follows:

1. Alphalist of Payees subjected to Expanded Withholding Taxes as evidenced by BIR Forms 2307
2. Alphalist of Other Payees whose Income Payments are Exempt from Withholding Tax but subject to Income Tax as evidenced by BIR Forms 2304

Deadline for Filing

The deadline for filing the return and the related attachments is on or before March 1 of the following year.

Penalty for Non-filing

The taxpayer would be subjected to PhP1,000.00 for each failure to file.