What do I actually file?

A handful of questions — fewer if you have no business income. No account, nothing stored: the answer lives in this page’s address, so you can bookmark or share it.

Which taxable year?

Did you earn employment income this year?

You are on a payroll and your employer gives you a BIR 2316.

How many employers, at any point in the year?

Count every one, even if the jobs did not overlap. Two in a row counts the same as two at once — this is the question that decides whether you file at all.

Did you earn freelance, professional or business income?

You invoice clients, or you are paid as a contractor and receive BIR 2307s. A “part-time job” counts here only if you are NOT on their payroll — if they give you a 2316, that is employment, and it belongs in the question above.

Which regime did you elect for this year?

Recorded in your first quarterly return or on your registration. If you have never elected anything, you are on graduated rates.

What do these mean?

Graduated rates: The normal income tax table: nothing on the first ₱250,000, then 15% to 35% as income rises. You still owe percentage tax or VAT on top.
OSD: Optional Standard Deduction: a flat 40% of your gross sales taken as expenses, with no receipts to keep and nothing to prove. You give up deducting what you actually spent.
Itemized deductions: You deduct what you actually spent, receipt by receipt. Better than the 40% OSD only if your real expenses come to more than that — and every one needs a valid invoice behind it.
8% flat on gross: 8% of your gross sales above ₱250,000, instead of both the graduated income tax and the percentage tax. Needs gross under ₱3M and non-VAT, and it lapses every year unless you elect it again.