RMC No. 61-2010: Suspends the generation and issuance of electronic Letter of Authority (eLAs), revokes RMC No. 56-2010 and clarifies the use of BIR Form 0421 – Tax Verification Notices

Summary

RMC No. 61-2010 suspends the generation and issuance of electronic Letters of Authority (eLAs), revokes RMC No. 56-2010, and regulates the use of BIR Form No. 0421 (Tax Verification Notices) until further notice.

Key points

1. eLA issuance suspended. Issuing eLAs and converting manual Letters of Authority into eLAs under the Electronic Letter of Authority Monitoring System are suspended until further notice. Effective July 1, 2010, only the Commissioner of Internal Revenue can manually issue and sign LAs.
2. Unused LA booklets surrendered. Offices and task forces holding booklets of BIR Form 1965 (Letter of Authority) must surrender all unused forms to the Accountable Forms Division by July 16, 2010.
3. Existing eLAs and investigations. Investigating offices keep encoding updates to eLAs issued before July 1, 2010. Examiners and Revenue Officers continue investigating on manual LAs issued before July 1, 2010, and taxpayers cannot cite RMC No. 56-2010 to refuse the investigation.
4. Manual TVNs allowed in four cases. Manual issuance of Tax Verification Notices is allowed only for one-time transactions (Capital Gains Tax, Creditable Withholding Tax and Documentary Stamp Tax on transfers of real property or shares of stock), donation (Donor’s Tax), death (Estate Tax), and requests for reinvestigation.

Who is affected

• Revenue Officers and examiners
• Offices and task forces holding BIR Form 1965 booklets

Deadlines and effectivity

• Manual LA issuance by the Commissioner only: effective July 1, 2010
• Surrender of unused BIR Form 1965: by July 16, 2010

Summary by Tax Resources PH. It is not a substitute for the full text of the issuance or professional advice.