Closing a Business with the BIR: 4 Routes
Bureau of Internal Revenue · business
Quick answer
Closure is filed on BIR Form 1905 at the RDO where the business is registered. There are four routes depending on whether you are closing a head office or a branch and whether tax liabilities exist. Three take 3 days and cost ₱30.00; the branch-without-liabilities route takes 2 days.
Every figure on this page is from Bureau of Internal Revenue's own published documents.
Last verified 1 source, listed below
Citizen's Charter 20261. PHGuides is independent and not affiliated with BIR.
Four routes, not one
There is no single closure procedure. The 2026 Citizen’s Charter defines four separate services, and which one applies is decided by two questions: head office or branch, and whether there are liabilities or an audit.
| Service | Situation | Time | Fee |
|---|---|---|---|
| 28 | Head office, subject to audit, with tax clearance | 3 Days | ₱30.00 |
| 28-A | Head office, not subject to audit, with tax clearance | 3 Days | ₱30.00 |
| 28-B | Branch with tax liabilities | 3 Days | ₱30.00 |
| 28-C | Branch without tax liabilities | 2 Days | None stated |
The published time for service 28 excludes the audit. The charter says so in the service title itself: “Excluding the Audit Process Processing Time”. So 3 days is the administrative handling around an audit whose own duration is not published anywhere in this document. Anyone planning around 3 days for an audited head office closure is planning around the wrong number.
A contradiction in the charter worth knowing about
Service 28-C gives its TOTAL PROCESSING FEE as None. Step 5 of the same service records the taxpayer buying a loose documentary stamp of ₱30.00, with 2 minutes to receive the payment and 3 minutes to pass it to the Revenue Collection Officer.
Both statements are in the published charter, and they cannot both be right. The other three routes state ₱30.00 in their totals, consistent with their own steps.
Practically: bring ₱30.00. The step detail agrees with the other three services and the summary line looks like the outlier.
That ₱30.00 is not an arbitrary charge either. It is the same ₱30.00 that documentary stamp tax imposes under Section 188 on a certificate issued by a public office.
What to bring
The standard requirements are the same across the routes:
| Document | Copies |
|---|---|
| BIR Form No. 1905 | 2 original copies |
| List of ending inventory of goods, supplies, including capital goods | 1 original copy |
| Inventory of unused invoices and supplementary invoices, together with the unused invoices, supplementary invoices and all other unutilized accounting forms such as vouchers, debit and credit memos, delivery receipts and purchase orders | The inventory and the documents |
| Original copy of BIR notices and permits, including the ATP, NIRI, Accreditation Certificate and Permit to Use for CRM or POS, and the original Certificate of Registration or Electronic COR | Originals |
Read the third and fourth rows carefully. You are not listing these documents, you are surrendering them. The Authority to Print and the Certificate of Registration both go back.
What the three days are actually spent on
The step timings for a head office closure show where the work sits:
| Stage | Time |
|---|---|
| Queue | 2 hours |
| Call the queuing number and receive | 5 minutes |
| Review the documents submitted | 30 minutes |
| Validate accuracy | 1 hour |
| Assign a Document Locator Number | 10 minutes |
| Check the veracity of the application | 2 hours |
| Deregister form type and transmit | 2 hours |
| Receive application from the RDO | 15 minutes |
| Receive termination | 2 hours |
| Three successive reviews | 3 hours each |
| Receive application and note | 1 hour |
| Confirm no open cases or tax liabilities | 1 hour |
| Buy the loose documentary stamp | 2 minutes |
| Pass payment to the Revenue Collection Officer | 3 minutes |
| Generate the Tax Clearance Certificate | 1 hour |
| Review and sign the TCL1 | 1 hour |
| Receive the signed TCL and cancel | 20 minutes |
| Issue the TCL1 to the taxpayer | 5 minutes |
Nine hours of it is three successive 3-hour reviews. The closure is a verification exercise far more than a paperwork exercise, which is the honest explanation for why it takes days rather than the hour the counter work would suggest.
Open cases are what actually delay you
The charter describes the purpose of the application as letting the RDO verify if the taxpayer has any open cases and/or tax liabilities that need to be settled prior to the issuance of a Tax Clearance.
That sentence is the whole risk in closing a business. The 2 or 3 days assumes the verification finds nothing. An unfiled return from three years ago is not a 3-day problem, and it surfaces here rather than earlier because this is the first time anyone looks across the whole record at once.
Service 28 exists precisely for the case where the answer is an audit.
What you end up with
A Tax Clearance Certificate, called TCL1 in the charter. It is generated, reviewed, initialled or signed, and issued to you, and the registration is cancelled as part of the same sequence.
Until that happens the registration is live, and so is everything attached to it. Ceasing to trade is not ceasing to be registered.
Where this goes wrong
Assuming 3 days means three days. For an audited head office, the published time expressly excludes the audit.
Turning up without the original COR and permits. They are surrendered, not shown.
Leaving unused invoices out. The physical unused invoices and other accounting forms are handed over with the inventory.
Expecting the branch route to be free. The totals say None but the steps charge ₱30.00. Bring it.
Just stopping. Registration and its obligations run until the cancellation is processed.
Frequently asked questions
- How long does BIR closure take?
- Three of the four routes give a total processing time of 3 days. Closing a branch without tax liabilities is 2 days. For a head office subject to audit, the charter states the 3 days expressly excludes the audit process processing time, so the real elapsed time depends on the audit.
- How much does it cost?
- ₱30.00 in loose documentary stamps for the tax clearance, on three of the four routes. That is the Section 188 rate on a certificate. The charter shows the branch-without-liabilities route as free in its totals while still charging ₱30.00 at step 5, so bring the ₱30.00 regardless.
- Which form do I file?
- BIR Form No. 1905, in 2 original copies, on every route. The same form handles ordinary registration updates, so closure is a use of it rather than a form of its own.
- What do I have to surrender?
- The original copies of your BIR notices and permits, including the Authority to Print, NIRI, Accreditation Certificate and Permit to Use for CRM or POS, plus the original Certificate of Registration or Electronic COR. You also hand over all unused invoices, supplementary invoices and other unutilized accounting forms.
- Why do they want my unused invoices?
- Because unused invoices in circulation after closure are the risk the process exists to close off. You submit an inventory of them together with the physical documents, alongside a list of ending inventory of goods, supplies and capital goods.
- What is an open case?
- An unresolved matter on your record, typically an unfiled return or an unsettled liability. The charter describes the purpose of the application as letting the RDO verify whether the taxpayer has open cases or tax liabilities that need to be settled prior to the issuance of a Tax Clearance. Open cases are what turn a 3-day closure into a long one.
- What do I get at the end?
- A Tax Clearance Certificate, referred to as TCL1 in the charter. It is generated, reviewed and signed, then issued to you, and the last step in the process is the cancellation of your registration.
- Can I just stop filing instead?
- No. Registration continues until it is formally cancelled, and the obligations attached to it continue with it. The application exists precisely so the BIR can establish what is outstanding before the record is closed.