Use of eORB by tobacco manufacturers

The Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) has prescribed the use of electronic official register books (eORB) for manufacturers of tobacco products and regulated raw materials, replacing the manually prepared and submitted ORB.

eORB system coverage

The eORB shall cover all manufacturers of cigarettes, cigars and cigarette papers, including traders and dealers of whole leaf tobacco and partially manufactured leaf tobacco. For purposes of expediency, the eORB system shall be initially implemented for use by the major tobacco industry players identified by the BIR, and a prior notice shall be issued for the implementation to the other tobacco industry players.

Enrollment in the eORB system

For purposes of enrollment in the eORB system, all manufacturers of cigarettes, cigars and cigarette papers, including traders and dealers of whole leaf tobacco and partially manufactured leaf tobacco, shall initially file with the Chief, Excise LT Field Operations Division, a written request for access to the system, together with a duly notarized board resolution in case the taxpayer is a juridical entity, or an affidavit, in case of sole proprietor stating, among others, the names of its representatives authorized to register and maintain a user account, either as an encoder or as an authorized officer, in the system.

In cases where a taxpayer’s computerized accounting system has the capability to automatically generate and print the ORBs, the taxpayer shall coordinate with the BIR in determining the manner of submission of the ORB through the eORB system. The BIR shall be notified immediately in writing, for purposes of re-evaluation and prior approval, prior to any change or enhancement of the computerized accounting system that will affect any transaction covered by the eORB system.

Submission of eORB

The duly accomplished eORB should be submitted within five calendar days immediately after the end of the month of operation. Any amendment in the entries of the eORBs that have been submitted should be made any time within the year of the taxpayer’s operation but not later than January 31 of the immediately succeeding year of the taxpayer’s operations. However, amendments can only be made once for each reference document and subject to the approval of the Chief, Excise Field Operations Division through an email notification. Submission of ORB to the BIR through external storage facilities such as memory sticks or cards, external hard drives, etc. is not allowed.

Transition rules

All transactions of covered excise taxpayers beginning February 1, 2013 shall already be encoded into the eORB system with the duly accomplished eORB Form for the month of February 2013 transmitted, through the eORB home page, on or before March 5, 2013.

(Revenue Regulations No. 03-2013, February 14, 2013)

Tax Brief – March 2013

Punongbayan and Araullo