Bureau of Internal Revenue(BIR)

January 13, 2023 Dear Mr. Dulnuan: I refer to my letter of Jan 12, 2023 02:04:47 PM about your request under Executive Order No. 2 (s. 2016) on Freedom of Information in the Executive Branch, for Income Tax Return and/or BIR Form 2316. Please be informed of Section 12. Section 2.83.1 of RR No. 2-98, as amended, is hereby further amended to read as follows: “SECTION 2.83.1. Employees Withholding Statements (BIR Form 2316). – In general, every employer or other person who is required to deduct and withhold the tax on compensation, including fringe benefits given to rank and file employees, shall furnish every employee from whom taxes were withheld a Certificate of Compensation Payment and Tax Withheld (BIR Form No. 2316) on or before January 31 of the succeeding calendar year, or if employment is terminated before the close of such calendar year, on the day on which the last payment of compensation is made. The said BIR Form No. 2316 is also required is also required to be issued by every employer to employees classified as MWEs and to other employees whose compensation were not subjected to withholding tax. The employer shall prepare BIR Form No. 2316 in triplicate, which shall be distributed as follows: (1) Original – Employee’s copy (2) Duplicate – BIR’s copy; and (3) Triplicate- Employer’s copy which shall be retained for a period of (10) years It is suggested that you directly request for a copy/ies of your Income Tax Return (BIR Form 2316) from your previous employer/s as they are primary/original source of such document. As an added information, for Income Tax Return (BIR Form 2316) issued for the Taxable Years 2012 to 2018, such request cannot be granted by the Revenue District Office (RDO) since the aforesaid BIR Withholding Tax Certificates were issued in aforesaid years and records of the RDO on those periods are already unavailable since we follow strictly the four (4) year retention period based on existing revenue issuances of the BIR (Revenue Memorandum Circular 73-2008). Hence, you may ask your previous employer/s for the copy/ies of your Certificate of Compensation Payment/ Tax Withheld (BIR Form 2316) because all taxpayers are required to preserve their accounting records for the period of 10 years in accordance with the Revenue Memorandum Circular No. 29-2019. Email [email protected] and indicate in your subject email ticket number #BIR-122710369138, to respond. During the period of us awaiting your reply, your request will be put on hold. If we do not receive a reply on or before Apr 07, 2023 06:26:53 AM, your request will be closed. We hope to hear from you at the soonest possible time. Thank you. Respectfully, FOI Receiving Officer Public Information and Education Division