BIR defines it as the electronic processing and transmission of tax return information including attachments, and taxes due thereon, to the government made over to the internet through the BIR website. It lives at efps.bir.gov.ph. The key word is payment: eFPS both files the return and pays the tax.

How is it different from eBIRForms?

BIR describes eBIRForms as developed primarily to provide taxpayers with an alternative mode of preparing and filing tax returns that is easier and more convenient. Preparing and filing. eFPS is filing and payment. That is the practical difference, and it is why many taxpayers use eBIRForms to file and then a separate ePayment channel to pay.

Where do I register or update my details?

Not in eFPS. ORUS, the Online Registration and Update System at orus.bir.gov.ph, is the web-based system BIR describes as providing an end-to-end process for registration of taxpayers and updating of their registration information.

How do I pay if I am not on eFPS?

Through ePay, which BIR describes as the link for ePayment Channels of Authorized Agent Banks. Those channels accept tax payments through online banking, credit, debit or prepaid cards, and mobile payments.

Do I still have to file electronically?

RA 11976 rewrote Section 236 so that a taxpayer files a return either electronically or manually, and pays either electronically or manually. The Act repeats that phrase throughout registration, filing, payment, transfer and cancellation.

Where do I submit my audited financial statements?

eAFS, the Electronic Audited Financial Statements system, which enables taxpayers to submit filed Income Tax Returns, Audited Financial Statements and other required attachments online in PDF file format. BIR advises using only letters and numbers in the eAFS username.

Is there a system for a one-off property sale?

Yes, eONETT. It handles One-Time Transactions for taxable sale or donation of real or personal property, covering creditable withholding tax Form 1606, capital gains tax Forms 1706 and 1707, donor's tax Form 1800 and documentary stamp tax Form 2000-OT.

What is the Taxpayer Portal?

TPPortal is a secured platform giving a single-view online access to your tax information through a centralized taxpayer profile, covering registration details, the status of filed returns, payment tracking and system-generated reminders. BIR states it is for access by selected pilot Large Taxpayers, so it is not open to everyone.

BIR eFPS: What It Is and Which One You Need

Searching for “eFPS” usually means one of two questions: what is it, or which of BIR’s systems am I supposed to be using. The second is the harder one, because BIR runs ten separate eServices and several of them overlap.

eFPS against eBIRForms, in BIR’s own words

System	BIR’s description	Where
eFPS	The electronic processing and transmission of tax return information including attachments, and taxes due thereon, to the government made over to the internet through the BIR website	efps.bir.gov.ph
eBIRForms	Developed primarily to provide taxpayers with an alternative mode of preparing and filing tax returns that is easier and more convenient	bir.gov.ph/ebirforms

Read the two definitions side by side and the difference is one clause. eFPS carries the taxes due thereon. eBIRForms does not.

That is why a great many taxpayers end up using eBIRForms to file and a separate ePayment channel to pay, while eFPS users do both in one place.

The eBIRForms guide covers the offline package in detail.

The full map, so you stop guessing

System	What it is for
ORUS	Registration and updating of registration information, end to end
eFPS	Filing and payment
eBIRForms	Preparing and filing
ePay	Links to ePayment Channels of Authorized Agent Banks
eAFS	Submitting filed ITRs, Audited Financial Statements and attachments in PDF
TPPortal	Single-view access to your tax information, selected pilot Large Taxpayers only
eONETT	One-Time Transactions on sale or donation of property
eTSPCert	Certification of third-party tax software
eTCBP-TCVC	Tax clearance for bidding, and tax compliance verification
eTCS	Filing, paying and receiving Tax Clearance Certificates

Two of those carry limits worth knowing before you try. TPPortal is for selected pilot Large Taxpayers. eTCS is not yet available to Non-Resident Foreign Corporations, Non-Resident Aliens Not Engaged in Trade or Business, or Large Taxpayers.

ePay channels accept payment by online banking, credit, debit or prepaid cards, and mobile payments.

eONETT is the one people miss. A single property sale does not need the full filing apparatus: it covers creditable withholding tax Form 1606, capital gains tax Forms 1706 and 1707, donor’s tax Form 1800 and documentary stamp tax Form 2000-OT. The capital gains tax guide and the documentary stamp tax guide cover what is due.

What the Ease of Paying Taxes Act changed

RA 11976 of 5 January 2024 rewrote Section 236 of the Tax Code, and one phrase runs through the whole of it: either electronically or manually.

Act	Now reads
Register	Once, either electronically or manually, with the appropriate RDO
File a return	Either electronically or manually
Pay	Either electronically or manually
Transfer registration	By merely filing an update application, either way
Cancel registration	Upon mere filing, either way

The word once is the quiet change. Registration is a single event rather than something renewed, and the annual registration fee that used to sit in Section 236(B) is gone from the amended text: subsection (B) is now “Registration of Each Type of Internal Revenue Tax”.

Registration itself is due within 10 days from the date of employment, on or before the commencement of business, before payment of any tax due, or upon filing a return. The TIN registration guide covers that process.

Two other changes in the same Act are worth knowing:

Section	Change
237	An invoice is required at ₱500.00 or more per sale, adjusted to present value every 3 years using the CPI. Below the threshold, one invoice for the aggregate at end of day, provided that aggregate is at least ₱500.00. VAT-registered persons issue one regardless of amount
238	Authority to print invoices is secured free of charge from BIR

The authority to print guide covers that process.

The deadlines the system exists to meet

Return	Deadline
1700, 1701, 1701A, 1707-A	On or before April 15, for the preceding taxable year
1701Q, 1st quarter	May 15
1701Q, 2nd quarter	August 15
1701Q, 3rd quarter	November 15
1702-EX, 1702-MX, 1702-RT	15th day of the 4th month after the close of the taxable year
1702Q	Within 60 days after the close of each of the first 3 quarters

The ITR filing guide covers which return applies to you.

The rates the return carries

Whichever system you file through, the arithmetic inside the return is the same. For individuals, Section 24(A)(2) as amended by the TRAIN law:

Net taxable income	Tax
Not over ₱250,000.00	0%
Over ₱250,000.00 to ₱400,000.00	20% of the excess over ₱250,000.00
Over ₱400,000.00 to ₱800,000.00	₱30,000.00 plus 25% of the excess over ₱400,000.00
Over ₱800,000.00 to ₱2,000,000.00	₱130,000.00 plus 30% of the excess over ₱800,000.00
Over ₱2,000,000.00 to ₱8,000,000.00	₱490,000.00 plus 32% of the excess over ₱2,000,000.00
Over ₱8,000,000.00	₱2,410,000.00 plus 35% of the excess

The income tax table guide explains how the fixed amounts are constructed, and the income tax calculator applies the schedule to a figure of your own.

Where this goes wrong

Assuming eBIRForms pays the tax. It prepares and files. Payment goes through ePay or an Authorized Agent Bank.

Looking for registration inside eFPS. Registration and updates live in ORUS.

Expecting TPPortal to open. It is limited to selected pilot Large Taxpayers.

Assuming electronic filing is compulsory. RA 11976 says either electronically or manually, throughout.

Still budgeting for an annual registration fee. The subsection that carried it was replaced when Section 236 was rewritten.

Paying for an authority to print. Section 238 makes it free of charge.