BIR Deadlines for October 2026: Regular Filing Calendar and Weekend Shifts

October 2026’s regular BIR compliance load, for a calendar-year taxpayer, is the monthly withholding remittance for September income payments plus two quarter-closing returns — BIR Form 2550Q/2551Q with RELIEF SLSP, and BIR Form 1601-EQ/1601-FQ with QAP — and every one of those statutory dates actually shifts forward once October 2026’s weekends and the early-November holidays are applied. No BIR circular specifically extending an October 2026 deadline has surfaced as of this writing; the dates below are the regular schedule, adjusted only for the ordinary weekend/holiday rule.

For the full-year schedule these dates sit inside, see 2026 BIR Tax Filing Deadlines Calendar; for the previous month’s obligations and the closed-out Habagat catch-up, see BIR Deadlines for September 2026; and for the mechanics of the weekend/holiday shift applied throughout this guide, see The BIR Weekend and Holiday Deadline-Shift Rule.

What’s regularly due in October 2026? #

Three recurring obligations land in October 2026 for most calendar-year taxpayers: the monthly withholding remittance for September payments, the third-quarter VAT and percentage tax return with RELIEF SLSP, and the third-quarter expanded and final withholding return with QAP. Each traces to its own statutory rule — monthly remittance on the 10th, quarter-end VAT/percentage tax 25 days after quarter close, and quarterly withholding on the last day of the following month — and nothing about those underlying rules changes for 2026; only which quarter closes and which weekday a date lands on shifts month to month.

BIR Form 0605 doesn’t carry a fixed October-specific due date of its own — it’s a general payment form used for miscellaneous one-time and annual charges (such as the annual registration fee due each January), so it isn’t listed above as a recurring October obligation. Under the Ease of Paying Taxes (EOPT) Act, Republic Act No. 11976, the monthly VAT return (BIR Form 2550M) was removed for most VAT-registered taxpayers, so it does not appear in October’s calendar either; a taxpayer still assigned a monthly VAT filing frequency by their Revenue District Office should confirm that status directly with the BIR rather than assume the general rule applies.

How do October 2026’s weekends and holidays actually shift these dates? #

Every one of the three statutory October 2026 dates above lands on a non-working day once checked against the actual calendar, so each one shifts forward under Revenue Memorandum Circular (RMC) No. 65-2016’s next-working-day rule rather than staying fixed on its stated date. That circular, issued by the BIR on June 23, 2016 and still the operative administrative basis for the shift, is the reason a filer can never simply read the statutory date off a form’s instructions without also checking the weekly calendar and that year’s holiday proclamation.

“There shall be imposed, in addition to the tax required to be paid, a penalty equivalent to twenty-five percent (25%) of the amount due, in the following cases: (1) Failure to file any return and pay the tax due thereon as required under the provisions of this Code or rules and regulations on the date prescribed…”

— Section 248(A), National Internal Revenue Code (NIRC), as amended

That penalty provision is what makes getting the actual (shifted) deadline right matter — the surcharge above attaches from the correct working-day deadline, not from the original weekend or holiday date. Here is how each October 2026 date actually resolves:

The last row is the stacked case worth double-checking closely. October 31, 2026 is a Saturday; the next day, Sunday, November 1, 2026, is already non-working as a weekend day and is also All Saints’ Day; and Monday, November 2, 2026 was separately declared an additional special non-working day (alongside All Saints’ Day observance) under the presidential proclamation setting the Philippines’ 2026 holiday calendar. Walking forward day by day — Saturday, Sunday, Monday, all non-working — the first genuine working day is Tuesday, November 3, 2026. A filer who assumes the deadline simply “moves to Monday” would file a day early relative to what the actual rule permits, or worse, assume the return is already late once October ends.

Unlike August 2026, no regular or special holiday has been declared anywhere inside October itself for 2026 under the presidential proclamation governing that year’s holidays — the closest declared non-working days on either side of October are Ninoy Aquino Day (August 21, a special non-working day) and All Saints’/All Souls’ Day observance at the very start of November. October 2026’s shifts, in other words, come entirely from where its statutory dates happen to land on the weekly calendar, not from any holiday sitting inside the month.

Has the BIR issued any October 2026-specific deadline extension? #

No October 2026-specific deadline extension has been identified as of this writing, September 14, 2026 — the dates above are the regular statutory schedule, adjusted only for the ordinary weekend/holiday mechanic, not a discretionary relief measure. Earlier in 2026, the BIR issued RMC No. 89-2026 and RMC No. 95-2026 to extend deadlines that fell between August 10 and 16, 2026 for taxpayers under named Revenue District Offices and Large Taxpayer divisions affected by Southwest Monsoon (“Habagat”) flooding and a related eBIRForms Offline Package outage — see RMC No. 89-2026 and RMC No. 95-2026. Both circulars were tied to a specific, named disruption and closed out before September began; neither one, nor any successor circular found through this guide’s research, reaches into October.

If a new weather event, system outage, or other disruption prompts the BIR to issue an October-specific circular before these dates arrive, it would supersede the regular schedule only for the taxpayers and dates it explicitly names, the same pattern the August extensions followed. Always check the BIR’s own published advisories (bir.gov.ph) close to each date, since a circular can be issued with little lead time.

A worked example: what a missed October 12 deadline actually costs #

A payroll-outsourcing client with ₱180,000 in withholding tax on compensation due for September 2026 employees files and pays BIR Form 1601-C eighteen days late, on October 30, 2026, instead of the actual, shifted deadline of October 12, 2026 established above. The gap between assuming the original October 10 date still governs and using the correct shifted date is exactly the kind of miscalculation that turns a manageable filing into an avoidable civil penalty. Applying the two additions the NIRC imposes on unpaid tax:

• Section 248 surcharge (25%): ₱180,000 × 25% = ₱45,000
• Section 249 interest (12% per annum, the rate commonly applied since the TRAIN Law amendments): ₱180,000 × 12% × (18 ÷ 365) = ₱1,065.21
• Total civil additions on top of the ₱180,000 basic tax: ₱46,065.21

That total does not include any separate compromise penalty the BIR may suggest under Revenue Memorandum Order No. 7-2015 for the late filing itself — that schedule is a consensual amount tied to the specific violation and tax bracket involved, not a fixed percentage, so it is not computed here. The point the example illustrates is narrower: the surcharge and interest clock starts running from October 12, 2026 (the actual shifted deadline), not from the original October 10 weekend date and not from October 31 — confusing which date the penalty clock starts from is a common, avoidable error.

Frequently asked questions #

What BIR filings are due in October 2026? #

For a calendar-year taxpayer, October 2026 carries the monthly withholding remittance (BIR Form 0619-E and BIR Form 1601-C for September 2026 income payments), the third-quarter VAT and percentage tax returns (BIR Form 2550Q and BIR Form 2551Q) with the RELIEF Summary List of Sales and Purchases, and the third-quarter expanded and final withholding returns (BIR Form 1601-EQ and 1601-FQ) with the Quarterly Alphalist of Payees (QAP) attachment.

Why does the October 10 withholding deadline move to October 12, 2026? #

October 10, 2026 falls on a Saturday and October 11, 2026 falls on a Sunday, both non-working days, so under Revenue Memorandum Circular No. 65-2016’s next-working-day rule the deadline for BIR Form 0619-E and BIR Form 1601-C walks forward to Monday, October 12, 2026, which is not a declared holiday.

Is BIR Form 2550Q due on October 25 or October 26, 2026? #

The statutory due date is October 25, 2026, but that date falls on a Sunday, so under the BIR’s weekend deadline-shift rule it moves to the next working day, Monday, October 26, 2026. The same shift applies to BIR Form 2551Q and the RELIEF Summary List of Sales and Purchases, which share the same due date.

When is BIR Form 1601-EQ actually due for the third quarter of 2026? #

The statutory due date is October 31, 2026, a Saturday. Sunday, November 1, 2026 is All Saints’ Day (a special non-working day that also happens to fall on a Sunday), and Monday, November 2, 2026 is a separately declared additional special non-working day for All Souls’ Day observance, so the deadline walks forward past both to Tuesday, November 3, 2026 — the first genuine working day.

Has the BIR announced any deadline extension specific to October 2026? #

As of this writing on September 14, 2026, no BIR revenue memorandum circular specifically extending an October 2026 deadline has been identified. The dates in this guide are the regular statutory due dates adjusted only for the ordinary weekend/holiday shift under RMC No. 65-2016, and remain subject to change if the BIR issues a new circular.

Is the monthly VAT return (BIR Form 2550M) still filed in October 2026? #

No, not for most VAT-registered taxpayers. Under the Ease of Paying Taxes (EOPT) Act, Republic Act No. 11976, the monthly VAT return was removed for the majority of filers, leaving BIR Form 2550Q as the recurring VAT filing; large taxpayers under eFPS should confirm their specific filing frequency with their Revenue District Office.

Summary #

October 2026’s regular BIR calendar carries three recurring obligations for a calendar-year taxpayer — the September withholding remittance (BIR Form 0619-E/1601-C), the Q3 VAT and percentage tax returns with RELIEF SLSP (BIR Form 2550Q/2551Q), and the Q3 expanded and final withholding returns with QAP (BIR Form 1601-EQ/1601-FQ) — and every one of those statutory dates shifts forward once checked against the actual calendar: October 12, October 26, and November 3, 2026, respectively. No October-specific BIR extension has been identified as of September 14, 2026, so these shifted dates are the ones to plan around, subject to the BIR issuing a new circular before they arrive. For the mechanics behind the shift itself, see The BIR Weekend and Holiday Deadline-Shift Rule, and for how these dates fit the rest of the year, see the 2026 BIR Tax Filing Deadlines Calendar.