BIR Form 2316 Deadlines: January 31 Employee Copy and February 28 BIR Submission
BIR Form 2316 has two deadlines employers must not conflate: furnish each employee’s copy on or before January 31 of the succeeding year, and — for substituted filing — submit the duplicate to the BIR not later than February 28 with a certified list of qualified employees. Both rules come from Revenue Regulations (RR) No. 11-2013, which amended RR No. 2-98, and they sit beside the January 31 due date for BIR Form 1604-C.
This guide maps those dates for a concrete tax year, explains what each deadline covers, and points to related guides on what BIR Form 2316 is, penalties for late or missing certificates, and the annual alphalist returns that close out the year.
Generate BIR Form 2316 Before Jan 31 — FREE →What is the January 31 employee-copy deadline? #
Every employer required to withhold tax on compensation must give each employee BIR Form 2316 on or before January 31 of the succeeding calendar year — or, if employment ends mid-year, on the day of the last compensation payment. RR No. 11-2013 restates this rule in Section 2.83.1 of RR No. 2-98 as amended: the certificate shows compensation paid, tax withheld, and related details, and failure to furnish it can trigger a mandatory audit of the payor’s income and withholding tax liabilities upon a verified complaint from the employee.
Key points for the employee-copy deadline:
- Applies to every employee from whose compensation taxes were withheld — not only those who qualify for substituted filing
- Applies to Minimum Wage Earners as well; RR No. 11-2013 expressly requires employers of MWEs to issue BIR Form 2316 by January 31
- Mid-year resignations and terminations get a final BIR Form 2316 with the last pay, not waiting until January
What is the February 28 BIR submission deadline? #
In cases covered by substituted filing, the employer keeps the original BIR Form 2316 with the employee and must file or submit the duplicate to the BIR not later than February 28 following the close of the calendar year. That submission is paired with a certified list of employees qualified for substituted filing, typically reflecting each employee’s name, TIN, compensation income, tax due, and tax withheld — the package that lets the employer’s annual filing stand in for the employee’s own income tax return.
The February 28 step is therefore not a second copy for every employee on the payroll without regard to qualification. It is the BIR-facing half of substituted filing: signed duplicates for those who qualify, plus the certified list that identifies them. Employees who do not qualify still receive their January 31 certificate and generally file their own return using that certificate as support.
How does BIR Form 2316 line up with BIR Form 1604-C? #
BIR Form 1604-C is due on or before January 31 — the same calendar day employee copies of BIR Form 2316 must be out — while the February 28 BIR submission of signed duplicates is a separate obligation that follows after employees have signed for substituted filing. In practice, payroll and tax teams treat late January as the compensation year-end close: alphalist data for 1604-C and employee certificates should already agree before either leaves the building.
| Obligation | Due date | What is submitted |
|---|---|---|
| BIR Form 1604-C (annual information return on compensation) | On or before January 31 succeeding year | Annual return + employee alphalist |
| BIR Form 2316 — employee copy | On or before January 31 succeeding year (or last pay if terminated) | Original certificate to each employee |
| BIR Form 2316 — BIR duplicate (substituted filing) | Not later than February 28 succeeding year | Signed duplicates + certified list of qualified employees |
For the full annual-alphalist picture across 1604-C, 1604-E, and 1604-F, see BIR Annual Alphalist (1604-C, 1604-E, 1604-F).
Worked example: tax year 2025 calendar #
For compensation paid in calendar year 2025, the employee-copy deadline is January 31, 2026, and the BIR substituted-filing submission is February 28, 2026.
| Milestone | Date | Action |
|---|---|---|
| Taxable year covered | January 1 – December 31, 2025 | Compensation earned and tax withheld |
| Employee receives BIR Form 2316 | On or before January 31, 2026 | Original certificate furnished (or earlier, on last pay if terminated in 2025) |
| Employer files BIR Form 1604-C | On or before January 31, 2026 | Annual information return + alphalist |
| Qualified employees sign substituted-filing declaration | After receiving certificate, before BIR submission | Employee signs declaration on BIR Form 2316 |
| Employer submits duplicates to BIR | Not later than February 28, 2026 | Signed duplicates + certified list of qualified employees |
A company that finishes payroll for December 2025 in early January still has roughly three to four weeks to generate, review, and hand out every BIR Form 2316 before January 31, 2026 — then about four more weeks to collect signatures from substituted-filing employees and lodge the February 28 package.
Frequently asked questions #
When must employers give BIR Form 2316 to employees? #
Under Revenue Regulations No. 11-2013 amending RR No. 2-98, every employer must furnish each employee BIR Form 2316 on or before January 31 of the succeeding calendar year. If employment ends before year-end, the certificate is due on the day of the last compensation payment.
When must employers submit BIR Form 2316 to the BIR? #
For employees qualified for substituted filing, the employer must submit the duplicate copy of each signed BIR Form 2316 to the BIR not later than February 28 following the close of the calendar year, together with a certified list of those qualified employees.
How does the BIR Form 2316 deadline relate to BIR Form 1604-C? #
BIR Form 1604-C, the Annual Information Return of Income Taxes Withheld on Compensation, is due on or before January 31 of the succeeding year — the same day employee copies of BIR Form 2316 must be furnished. The February 28 BIR submission of signed duplicates and the certified list of substituted-filing employees is a separate, later step.
Do Minimum Wage Earners still get BIR Form 2316 by January 31? #
Yes. RR No. 11-2013 expressly states that employers of Minimum Wage Earners (MWEs) are still required to issue BIR Form 2316 to MWEs on or before January 31 of the following year, even when their statutory minimum wage and related MWE benefits are exempt from income tax.
What happens if BIR Form 2316 is late? #
Failure to furnish or file BIR Form 2316 on time is treated as a failure to file a required information return under Section 250 of the NIRC — generally ₱1,000 per failure, capped at ₱25,000 per calendar year — with additional exposure for willful consecutive-year failures. See the companion penalties guide for the full structure.
Summary #
BIR Form 2316 runs on a two-date calendar under RR No. 11-2013 and RR No. 2-98 as amended: January 31 for every employee’s copy (and for BIR Form 1604-C), and February 28 for the BIR duplicate plus certified list when substituted filing applies. For tax year 2025, that means employee certificates out by January 31, 2026 and the BIR package in by February 28, 2026. Missing either date is a compliance failure with its own penalty track — covered in BIR Form 2316 Penalties — so the practical fix is generating accurate certificates from the same payroll figures that feed 1604-C, then collecting substituted-filing signatures before the February cutoff.