Tax Alert No. 5 [Revenue Memorandum Circular (RMC) No. 7-2023 dated 10 January 2023]

Circularizing Republic Act No. 11595, entitled “An Act Amending Republic Act No. 8762, Otherwise Known as the ‘Retail Trade Liberalization Act of 2000', by Lowering the Required Paid-Up Capital for Foreign Retail Enterprises, and for Other Purposes”

RMC No. 7-2023 has been issued to provide clarification on the RPS Assessment issued by the BIR to concerned taxpayers.

The following points were provided in the Circular:

• The contents of an RPS Assessment are not tax assessments arising from the conduct of audit/investigation of the taxpayer's books of accounts and other relevant records. These are tax payables based on the taxpayer's own tax declaration as reflected in the tax returns filed. 
  
• The moment the taxpayer failed to pay the declared tax payable in the tax return within the prescribed due date, the BIR considers it already as a delinquent account pursuant to Revenue Memorandum Order No. 11-2014. To collect it, the BIR can both enforce civil and criminal actions as provided under Section 205 of the Tax Code, as amended. 
  
• RPS Assessment should not be likened to and is not an Assessment Notice arising from an audit where a taxpayer has the chance to contest or protest. Considering that no books of accounts and accounting records of a taxpayer are to be examined, the issuance of Letter of Authority shall not be required.
  
• The RPS Assessment is a collection letter and it is sent as part of the civil/administrative remedies of the BIR.

You may access the full version of this issuance through the BIR website.