Requests for confirmation, tax treaty relief applications and tax sparing applications

IN 2021, the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) issued Revenue Memorandum Order (RMO) 14-2021 and Revenue Memorandum Circular (RMC) 77-2021, which streamlined the procedure for the availment of benefits under the applicable tax treaty. These issuances likewise introduced the nature of the application to be filed by the taxpayer as well as the issuance of a Certificate of Entitlement to Treaty Benefit (COE) by the BIR.

For payments made by a Philippine income payor to nonresidents that applied the provisions of a relevant tax treaty, a consolidated request for confirmation (RFC) per nonresident-income payee should be filed by the income payor (as the constituted withholding agent) with the BIR's International Tax Affairs Division (ITAD) to obtain confirmation of the correctness or entitlement to the treaty benefits. The filing of the RFC must be made at any time after the payment of withholding tax, but shall not be later than the last day of the fourth month following the close of each taxable year.