At the counter
Two ways to do everything.
The field guide explains the forms. This explains the trips. Each process below is written from two documents the BIR publishes and almost nobody reads: the Checklist of Documentary Requirements, which says what they may ask you for, and the Citizen's Charter, which says how long they get and what it costs. Know both and the Ease of Doing Business Act stops being a poster on the wall.
CDR F1101
Register as self-employed
The one trip that turns you into a registered taxpayer. Two ways to do it, and the online way never asks you to leave the house.
- 3 days total, per the Citizen's Charter
- 1 day total, per the Citizen's Charter
- PHP 30.00, plus the printing cost of BIR Printed Invoices
CDR Certificate of Authority, RA 9178
Register as a BMBE
A separate track most freelancers never hear about: income tax exemption on what the business earns, in exchange for giving up the 8% option. Registered at a Negosyo Center, not the BIR.
- 15 working days, or you are deemed registered
- Free, per current DTI guidance
CDR F1105T
Move your registration to another RDO
The transaction with the most folklore attached. Open cases do not freeze you in place, and there is a named form that says so.
- Not separately published in the Charter. Treat 3 working days as the ceiling.
- 3 working days as a simple transaction, per RA 11032
- Free
CDR F1105
Update your registration details
Ten things you can change online, free, without queueing. Most people still take the day off work for these.
- Same-session for most updates
- 3 working days as a simple transaction, per RA 11032
- Free, except 30 pesos of DST for a replacement COR and 100 pesos for a replacement paper TIN card
CDR F1105B
Register your books of accounts
Free, one day, and now mostly a QR code. The step people skip and then get penalised for at audit.
- Same-session once the account exists
- 1 day total, per the Citizen's Charter
- Free
CDR F1106
Get an Authority to Print invoices
Free, one day, and skippable. If you took BIR Printed Invoices at registration you do not need this at all.
- Issued with the electronic COR
- 1 day total, per the Citizen's Charter
- None
CDR F1105C
Close your business properly
The step people skip when freelancing ends, which is why open cases keep accruing on a business that stopped years ago. The rules changed in May 2026, and they changed in your favour.
- 3 working days for a micro taxpayer with complete documents and nothing outstanding
- PHP 30.00
CDR Tax Compliance Verification Drive
Survive a tax mapping visit
An officer walks in unannounced and checks what is on your wall, not what is in your files. Ten minutes of preparation decides how it goes.
- Verification is typically by correspondence rather than a visit
- Unannounced. There is no appointment to prepare for.
- None to be inspected
CDR F1105
Get your BIR Registration Seal Badge
The QR seal that proves you are registered without publishing your TIN and home address to the internet. Free, and most people posting their whole COR do not know it exists.
- 3 working days
- 3 working days
- ₱30 loose DST
Ask for the checklist by its code.
Every process here prints a CDR number, like F1101 or F1105T. That is the Bureau's own one-page checklist for that exact transaction, and asking for it by name changes the conversation. It lists what may be required, it has a signature block for marking what you are missing, and it cites RA 11032 on its face.
What the law gives you at the counterSome questions are not a trip at all.
A US client asking for a W-8BEN, a marketplace deducting something from your payout, whether to incorporate, what SSS and PhilHealth want from a freelancer. None of those are a counter you queue at, so they live in their own section.
The questions that are not a formApproved, but ORUS won't show it?
Register Books, the Authority to Print and a refreshed Certificate of Registration sometimes stay hidden in ORUS after they're actually approved. There's a fix, and it's not a workaround — it's documented in BIR's own ORUS material.
Fix the missing buttonsClocks and fees are quoted from the BIR Citizen's Charter, 2025 Edition. Requirements are quoted from the Checklist of Documentary Requirements, revised July 2025. Both are linked on every process page. Practical guidance, not legal or tax advice.