BIR Form 1906: How to Apply for Authority to Print (ATP) Receipts and Invoices

BIR Form 1906 is the “Application for Authority to Print (ATP) Invoices” — the form a taxpayer files, through a BIR-accredited printer, before printing manual or loose-leaf official receipts and invoices. Every establishment, whether a head office or a branch, needs its own ATP filed with the RDO having jurisdiction over it. Since 2022, a rule that used to catch many businesses off guard — printed receipts silently expiring after five years — no longer applies.

Who needs ATP, and the process #

A taxpayer applies for ATP through a BIR-accredited printer, not directly by self-printing, and each establishment files its own application. The typical requirements are two original copies of BIR Form 1906, a final clear sample of the invoice or receipt, a photocopy of the Certificate of Registration (BIR Form 2303), a job order from the accredited printer, and — for a renewal — the previous ATP or the printer’s Certificate of Delivery. Applications are filed through the BIR’s Online Registration and Update System (ORUS), carry a ₱30 documentary stamp tax, and typically process within about three working days once the submission is complete.

ATP is for manual and loose-leaf receipts — not for CAS or e-invoicing #

Authority to Print specifically covers manual and loose-leaf printed receipts and invoices; a business using a Computerized Accounting System (CAS) or the BIR’s electronic invoicing system follows a separate registration track instead. A business that has migrated to a CAS or Permit-to-Use (PTU) system doesn’t file Form 1906 for its system-generated invoices — it registers the system itself under a different BIR procedure. If your business is still deciding between manual receipts and going computerized, see BIR Books of Accounts for the recordkeeping side of that same decision, and RR No. 26-2025: BIR Extends E-Invoicing Compliance Deadline for the current e-invoicing rollout timeline.

Printed receipts no longer expire after 5 years #

The rule that once forced businesses to reprint receipts every five years was removed by RR No. 6-2022, issued June 27, 2022 and effective July 16, 2022 — not, as is sometimes assumed, by the later EOPT Act. Before RR No. 6-2022, ATP-printed receipts and invoices, along with system-generated (PTU) receipts, carried a hard five-year validity period, after which unused stock became void even if the business hadn’t finished using it. RR No. 6-2022 removed that forced expiry entirely — a validly printed receipt or invoice today remains usable until it’s fully consumed, without a calendar deadline forcing a reprint. Separately, RR No. 7-2024, implementing the EOPT Act (Republic Act No. 11976) effective April 27, 2024, made the invoice — rather than the official receipt — the primary document for both sales of goods and services, with the official receipt becoming supplementary. These are two distinct changes from two different regulations, and conflating them is an easy mistake when reading older compliance guides.

Penalties for printing or using receipts without ATP #

Willfully printing or using receipts and invoices without a valid ATP carries criminal exposure under Section 264 of the NIRC — a substantial fine and possible imprisonment — while non-fraudulent lapses carry a smaller administrative penalty. Under RR No. 13-2021, non-fraudulent use of an invoice or receipt without ATP (or with an expired one, for documents still governed by the old validity rule) generally carries an administrative penalty of roughly ₱1,000 per document, capped at ₱50,000 per taxable year. The willful, fraudulent case under Section 264 is a materially different exposure — a criminal penalty, not just an administrative fine — so a business that discovers a lapsed or missing ATP should treat it as urgent rather than routine, and confirm current figures with the BIR or a tax adviser given how frequently these penalty amounts have been adjusted.

Summary #

BIR Form 1906 secures Authority to Print for manual or loose-leaf receipts and invoices, filed through a BIR-accredited printer rather than directly — and since RR No. 6-2022, the printed stock no longer expires after five years, a rule change worth knowing if your compliance calendar still tracks the old reprint cycle. A business using computerized accounting or e-invoicing follows a different registration path entirely. For the registration step that typically comes right before this one, see BIR Form 1903: How to Register a Corporation or Partnership and How to Register a New Business with the BIR.