BIR AMENDS PROVISIONS IN COMPLIANCE WITH THE “PERSONAL EQUITY AND RETIREMENT ACCOUNT (PERA) ACT OF 2008”

THE Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR), under the leadership of Commissioner Romeo D. Lumagui, Jr., issued Revenue Regulations (RR) No. 7-2023 to amend certain provisions of RR Nos. 17-2011 and 2-2022 in relation to the implementation of the “Personal Equity and Retirement Account (PERA) Act of 2008”.

Per RR No. 7-2023, the maximum annual PERA contributions per Calendar Year have been increased to Php 200,000.00 (if the Contributor is a non-overseas Filipino) or Php 400,000.00 (if the Contributor is an overseas Filipino or represents an overseas Filipino).

Contributions to the PERA amounting to more than Php 200,000.00 or Php 400,000.00, as the case may be, shall not be accepted by the Administrator under the PERA Account. However, they may be accepted by the Administrator as other Savings/Investment Account after appropriate advice given to Contributor but shall not be entitled to any benefit under the PERA Act.

A PERA-Tax Credit Certificate (PERA-TCC) issued in accordance with the pertinent provisions of RR No. 17-2011, as amended, that remains unutilized after five (5) years from the date of issuance shall be considered invalid and shall not be allowed as payment for internal revenue tax liabilities of the PERA contributor. The amount covered by the certificate issued shall be automatically cancelled by the ePERA System. In case of damaged or lost certificate, reissuance of certificate will not be available after five (5) years from the date of issuance of the original certificate.

The PERA-TCC refers to the document evidencing the amount of tax credit equivalent to five percent (5%) of the total amount of qualified PERA contributions made in a year. The application for PERA-TCC shall be filed online thru the PERASys by the PERA Administrator within sixty days (60) days from the close of the calendar year.

Per RR No. 2-2022, the PERA-TCC shall be used only for the payment of income tax liabilities of qualified employee and self-employed contributors, while for qualified overseas Filipino contributor, the PERA-TCC can be used in the payment of any internal revenue taxes.

For more details on the amendments introduced by RR No. 7-2023, please refer to its full text posted at the BIR Website (www.bir.gov.ph).