Requesting Entity: Philippine Air Force (PAF) Armed Forces of the Philippines

Issues Concern: Filing of Tax Returns either Manually or through Electronic Filing and Payment System (EFPS)

Details

Whether the PAF may allow the submission of manually filed tax returns or strictly require the submission of tax returns filed though the EFPS pursuant to Republic Act (RA) 9184 and its revised Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR).

Section 4.1 of RR 3-2005, as reiterated in GPPB Circular 02-2005, expressly mandates the submission of tax returns through the EFPS. On the other hand, Bid Data Sheet (BDS) Clause 29.2(b) of the Philippine Bidding Documents (PBDs) for the Procurement of Goods provide the Procuring Entity (PE) an option to allow bidders to submit manually filed tax returns in lieu of EFPS-filed tax returns.

The BDS Clause 29.2(b), however, clearly provides that the option of allowing submission of manually filed tax returns should be exercised by the PE by specifying so in the Bidding Documents. If the PE does not elect such option and maintains the provision of the BDS unchanged, the general rule should apply, i.e., only EFPS-filed tax returns are allowed x x x.