23 October 2026 · Bureau of Internal Revenue

The ₱500 BIR registration fee was abolished. Most guides still charge it

Search for the cost of BIR registration and you will find ₱530, or ₱500 plus ₱30. That was correct until 2024. The law changed, and the wrong number is still being copied from page to page.

Republic Act No. 11976, the Ease of Paying Taxes Act, removed the annual registration fee. A business registering today pays the ₱30 documentary stamp tax and nothing else to the Bureau.

The Philippine Business Hub states it plainly in its own FAQ: business taxpayers are no longer required to pay the ₱500 annual registration fee; they are only required to pay the ₱30 documentary stamp tax. The BIR's NewBizReg portal instructs applicants to pay ₱30.

So why does everyone still say ₱530

Because one of the Bureau's own pages still says it. The ORUS FAQ, in its step-by-step description of online registration, tells the taxpayer to pay ₱500 for the annual registration fee and ₱30 for the loose documentary stamp tax. That page has not been updated to reflect the Act.

This is not a small embarrassment for the Bureau. It is a commercial problem for anyone quoting it: a client who is told ₱530 and pays ₱30 will wonder what the other ₱500 was, and a client who is told ₱530 by a consultancy that then keeps the difference has a legitimate complaint.

What actually costs money at BIR registration

Not the registration. The costs around it: the stock and transfer book, the authority to print if you print your own invoices, the registered books of accounts, and the notarisation of the documents that feed the file. Those are real and they vary by district and by printer.

The rule we apply

We publish the ₱30 because it is the law and it is checkable. Where we cannot source a figure, we say so on the page and quote it after assessing your file. A directory that copies last year's number is a directory you cannot use to decide anything.