BIR Form 1901
Registration for the self-employed
The form that turns you from a person with clients into a registered taxpayer with a Certificate of Registration.
The official form
BIR Form 1901
Application for Registration
October 2025 (ENCS)
Mirrored from bir.gov.ph so you can look at a blank copy without hunting the BIR site. File the real thing through eBIRForms, eFPS, or ORUS, not this copy.
Why this exists, and why it covers you
Section 236 of the Tax Code requires every person subject to any internal revenue tax to register with the BIR. The trigger is earning taxable income on your own, not owning a shop or holding a DTI name. Freelancing for clients is practice of profession, and that is a taxed activity.
Employees never see this form because their employer registers and reports for them. The moment income arrives with no employer behind it, that machinery is gone, and registration is how you take its place.
For online workers there is no gray area left: RMC 60-2020 named people earning through digital channels, freelancers and virtual assistants included, as covered, regardless of how small the income is.
Who this is for
- First-time freelancers, online sellers, consultants and licensed professionals
- Fresh graduates going straight into freelancing instead of employment
- Employees adding self-employment on the side
When
- Before or upon starting
- Register on or before the start of your business, or before the first tax deadline that applies to you, whichever comes first.
How to do it
- 01Get a TIN if you have none. If you were ever employed, you already have one. Never apply for a second, that is a criminal offense.
- 02File Form 1901 online through ORUS (orus.bir.gov.ph) or at the Revenue District Office covering your home address.
- 03Pay the 30-peso documentary stamp tax. The old 500-peso annual registration fee was abolished in 2024, so no one should be charging it.
- 04On the same form, choose how you want to be taxed: the 8% option or the graduated rates. This choice matters. Work through Start here if unsure.
- 05Receive your Certificate of Registration (Form 2303), register your books of accounts, and secure invoices: an Authority to Print, or BIR-printed invoices you can use immediately.
What bites beginners
- The 8% choice must be made at registration or on your first quarterly return of the year. Miss the window and you are on graduated rates plus percentage tax until January.
- Registering does not mean you owe tax. The first 250,000 pesos of annual income is tax-free either way. It means you file.
- If you were employed before, your TIN lives at your employer's RDO. File Form 1905 to move it to your home RDO first, or the 1901 stalls.
Sources
- NIRC Sec. 236 on registration, consolidated text (NTRC)
- RMC 60-2020 on online earners (Tax and Accounting Center)
- Freelancer registration requirements (Respicio & Co.)
- ORUS, the BIR online registration portal
Statute first, explainers second. When a link and the law disagree, the law wins.
Checked against BIR rules on
Related
TAXKAYA tracks this deadline and computes the numbers this form asks for, from records you were keeping anyway.
Open the appPractical guidance, not legal or tax advice. Written against the rules in force as of July 2026. Verify current dates on bir.gov.ph before filing.