RMC No. 4-2026: The Extended BIR ORUS Books of Accounts Registration Deadline

Revenue Memorandum Circular (RMC) No. 4-2026, issued by the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) on January 15, 2026, reiterated that Permanently Bound Loose-Leaf Books of Accounts and Computerized Books of Accounts (CAS) must be registered through the BIR’s Online Registration and Update System (ORUS) — not at the Revenue District Office (RDO) counter — and extended the registration deadlines after taxpayers reported intermittent ORUS login and connectivity problems. If your business uses either book type, the extended deadlines below replace the original ones, but the ORUS-first requirement itself did not change.

What does RMC No. 4-2026 actually change? #

RMC No. 4-2026 is a clarification-and-extension circular, not a new registration requirement — it confirms that ORUS registration for loose-leaf and computerized books was already mandatory, then grants more time to comply because the platform itself was unreliable. Multiple tax-practice summaries of the circular, including Bong Corpuz & Co. CPAs and IGD & Associates, describe it the same way: the BIR “reiterates and clarifies existing policies on the mandatory registration of Permanently Bound Loose-Leaf Books of Accounts and Computerized Books of Accounts through the Online Registration and Update System (ORUS), and announces the extension of registration deadline due to intermittent technical issues affecting the ORUS.”

“REVENUE MEMORANDUM CIRCULAR NO. 4-2026 issued on January 15, 2026, reiterates and clarifies existing policies on the mandatory registration of Permanently Bound Loose-Leaf Books of Accounts and Computerized Books of Accounts through the Online Registration and Update System (ORUS), and announces the extension of registration deadline due to intermittent technical issues affecting the ORUS.”

This wording is drawn from tax-advisory summaries (CloudCfo and Bong Corpuz & Co. CPAs) of the BIR’s own circular digest, since this site could not directly re-fetch the BIR’s published PDF to re-verify the exact digest phrasing — confirm the precise text against the BIR’s own circular before relying on it for a formal filing position.

For the underlying “why register through ORUS at all” question, see What Is BIR ORUS?, which covers ORUS’s full registration scope; this post focuses only on what RMC No. 4-2026 specifically changed for books-of-accounts registration.

Which books of accounts does this circular actually cover? #

RMC No. 4-2026 applies to exactly two book formats — Permanently Bound Loose-Leaf Books of Accounts and Computerized Books of Accounts — and does not touch manual, pre-printed books registered the traditional way at the RDO. That distinction matters because BIR Books of Accounts: Manual, Loose-Leaf, and Computerized Accounting System Requirements explains all three formats generally; RMC No. 4-2026 narrows in on the two formats the BIR has pushed toward fully digital, ORUS-based registration, leaving manual-book registration at the RDO unaffected.

A business that adopts a Computerized Accounting System also has a separate registration step — the Acknowledgment Certificate under RMC No. 5-2021 — before its CAS is treated as compliant at all. See The BIR CAS Acknowledgment Certificate Process Under RMC No. 5-2021 for that earlier step; RMC No. 4-2026 sits downstream of it, addressing the annual/periodic ORUS registration of the books themselves rather than the initial system approval.

Why did the BIR extend the deadline instead of holding the line? #

The extension exists because ORUS itself, not the taxpayer, was the point of failure — taxpayers attempting to log in and complete registration ahead of the original deadlines ran into intermittent connectivity and access problems on the platform. Rather than let those platform-side outages translate into late-registration exposure for otherwise compliant taxpayers, the BIR used RMC No. 4-2026 to push both deadlines back. Tax-advisory summaries of the circular frame the extension as a direct response to those reported login and system-connectivity issues, not a general grace period offered for any reason.

What are the extended deadlines under RMC No. 4-2026? #

Both deadlines moved, but by different lengths of time, and the extension does not apply to books outside the two formats RMC No. 4-2026 covers. The table below lines up the original and extended dates.

Once ORUS registration is successfully completed, the system generates a QR code stamp as proof: for bound loose-leaf books, the taxpayer affixes the QR code to the first page of the physical bound book; for computerized books, the taxpayer prints and retains the QR code for record purposes rather than affixing it to anything physical.

Can you still register manually if ORUS won’t cooperate? #

Manual RDO registration remains an option, but only as a narrow fallback, not a parallel channel taxpayers can choose freely. Tax-practice guidance summarizing the circular is consistent on this point: a taxpayer may register manually at the RDO only if there is an official BIR advisory confirming ORUS system unavailability, or if the taxpayer can present a screenshot of the specific ORUS error message encountered during the attempted online registration. Online registration through ORUS is described as mandatory nationwide for these two book types unless an extension is separately granted by the Commissioner of Internal Revenue or an authorized representative, on a request filed before the original deadline — RMC No. 4-2026 itself being the nationwide instance of that extension being granted.

In practice, that means a business should not treat “ORUS was slow for me” alone as sufficient documentation — keep the actual error screenshot, dated, before falling back to a manual filing at the RDO.

Worked example: a retailer racing the extended deadline #

A retail business using bound loose-leaf ledgers tries to register through ORUS on January 14, 2026, one day before the original January 15 deadline, and repeatedly gets a connection timeout during the upload step. Under the original deadline, this would have been a same-day scramble to the RDO with no guarantee of same-day manual processing. Under RMC No. 4-2026, the business instead:

1. Takes a dated screenshot of the ORUS timeout error as a record of the access problem.
2. Waits for the platform issue to clear and retries registration well within the extended January 31, 2026 deadline.
3. Completes registration through ORUS, receives the system-generated QR code, and affixes it to the first page of the bound book.
4. Retains the earlier screenshot on file in case the RDO later asks why registration happened close to, rather than well ahead of, the original date.

A business running a Computerized Accounting System facing the same login problems has an extra nine days of runway under the extended February 17, 2026 deadline compared to the loose-leaf timeline, reflecting the fact that CAS registration was already scheduled two weeks later than loose-leaf registration before RMC No. 4-2026 pushed both dates back.

Frequently Asked Questions #

What is RMC No. 4-2026? #

Revenue Memorandum Circular (RMC) No. 4-2026, issued by the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) on January 15, 2026, reiterates and clarifies the mandatory registration of Permanently Bound Loose-Leaf Books of Accounts and Computerized Books of Accounts through the BIR’s Online Registration and Update System (ORUS), and extends the related registration deadlines after taxpayers reported intermittent ORUS login and connectivity problems.

Why did the BIR extend the ORUS books of accounts registration deadline? #

The BIR granted the extension because of intermittent log-in and system connectivity problems on ORUS that prevented some taxpayers from completing registration by the original deadlines. Rather than penalize taxpayers for a platform-side technical issue, RMC No. 4-2026 pushed both deadlines back by roughly two to three weeks.

What are the extended deadlines under RMC No. 4-2026? #

The deadline for registering Permanently Bound Loose-Leaf Books of Accounts, Invoices, and Other Accounting Records moved from January 15, 2026 to January 31, 2026. The deadline for registering Computerized Books of Accounts and Other Accounting Records moved from January 30, 2026 to February 17, 2026.

Can I still register my books of accounts manually at the RDO instead of through ORUS? #

Only in limited circumstances. Manual registration at the Revenue District Office (RDO) is allowed only when there is an official BIR advisory confirming that ORUS is unavailable, or when the taxpayer can present a screenshot of the specific ORUS error message encountered while attempting to register online. Online registration through ORUS remains the mandatory default channel for these two book types.

Does RMC No. 4-2026 apply to manual books of accounts too? #

No. RMC No. 4-2026 addresses only Permanently Bound Loose-Leaf Books of Accounts and Computerized Books of Accounts (CAS). Manual, pre-printed books of accounts registered once at the RDO are not affected by this circular’s ORUS requirement or its deadline extensions.

What happens if I miss the extended ORUS deadline? #

RMC No. 4-2026 itself is a relief measure, not a penalty schedule, and it does not spell out a unique penalty distinct from the BIR’s general rules on late registration of books of accounts. The safest position is to complete ORUS registration as soon as technical access allows and to keep a dated screenshot or advisory on file if a connectivity issue caused the delay, rather than assume the extension is open-ended.

Summary #

RMC No. 4-2026 didn’t create a new books-of-accounts rule — it reaffirmed that Permanently Bound Loose-Leaf Books of Accounts and Computerized Books of Accounts must go through ORUS, then extended the deadlines to January 31, 2026 and February 17, 2026 respectively because of ORUS’s own login and connectivity problems. Manual RDO registration stays available only as a documented fallback, not a default alternative. Pair this with BIR Books of Accounts for the underlying format requirements and What Is BIR ORUS? for the platform’s full registration scope beyond books of accounts.