How to Claim Your PERA Tax Credit Certificate Under the New PeraSys/ePERA Process (RMC No. 94-2026)

Revenue Memorandum Circular (RMC) No. 94-2026 changes how a Personal Equity and Retirement Account (PERA) contributor’s Pera Tax Credit Certificate (Pera TCC) actually gets processed — not the 5% credit rate itself. Your Pera Administrator, not you, now files the application electronically through the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’ (BSP) PeraSys system within 60 days of year-end, the BIR’s ePERA System processes it in real time, and the resulting certificate carries a QR code the BIR validates before it can be applied against your tax due.

What RMC No. 94-2026 actually changes #

RMC No. 94-2026 provides additional guidelines on the issuance, verification, and utilization of Pera Tax Credit Certificates under Republic Act No. 9505 — it is a process circular, not a change to the underlying 5% credit. If you’re unfamiliar with the PERA program itself, including how the 5% credit is calculated and the ₱100,000 annual contribution cap (₱200,000 for overseas Filipinos), start with PERA Tax Incentives: How the 5% BIR Tax Credit Works Under RA 9505 before reading further — this guide assumes that background and focuses only on what changed in how the certificate reaches you.

Before RMC No. 94-2026, Pera TCC processing already ran through the BSP’s PeraSys and the BIR’s ePERA System, established under earlier issuances such as Revenue Regulations No. 6-2021. What RMC No. 94-2026 adds is a consolidated set of guidelines addressing filing timelines, certificate delivery, QR-code validation, and how RDOs treat a certificate once used — gaps that had accumulated since PERA’s electronic infrastructure first went live. According to BusinessWorld Online’s coverage of the circular, the update targets exactly the certificate-processing confusion retirement savers had run into.

The Pera Administrator’s 60-day duty under PeraSys #

A PERA contributor does not file their own Pera TCC application — the Pera Administrator holding the account does, and RMC No. 94-2026 gives that duty a hard clock: 60 days from the end of each calendar year. The Pera Administrator is the accredited bank, trust entity, investment house, or insurance company where a contributor opened their PERA account, and it is the party the BIR and BSP hold responsible for initiating and completing the electronic filing.

The mechanics work like this:

1. The calendar year closes on December 31, and the contributor’s total qualified contributions for that year are finalized in the Pera Administrator’s records.
2. Within 60 days of that year-end, the Pera Administrator electronically submits the Pera TCC application on the contributor’s behalf through PeraSys, the BSP’s Pera System.
3. PeraSys is interconnected in real time with the BIR’s ePERA System, so the application reaches the BIR for processing and approval without a separate manual submission step.
4. Once approved, the Pera Administrator either issues the certificate physically to the contributor (or an authorized representative) or sends it as a PDF to the contributor’s registered official email address, upon the contributor’s written request.

A practical consequence follows: if a Pera Administrator is slow to file, the contributor has no independent BIR-facing application to fall back on that year. Confirm with your Pera Administrator, well ahead of your own return’s filing deadline, that the year’s Pera TCC application actually went through PeraSys.

How the credit shows up on your return or payslip #

Once approved, the 5% Pera tax credit reaches the contributor in one of two ways depending on contributor type and the return involved — as a year-end withholding adjustment, or as a line item in the payment-details portion of a tax return. This is where the certificate stops being a processing artifact and starts actually reducing tax due.

Section 8 of Republic Act No. 9505 — the statute RMC No. 94-2026 is implementing procedures for, not amending — remains the underlying source of the credit itself:

“The Contributor shall be given an income tax credit equivalent to five percent (5%) of the total PERA contribution: Provided, however, That in no instance can there be any refund of the said tax credit arising from the PERA contributions.”

That “no cash refund” rule still applies: a Pera TCC only offsets an actual tax liability. Reporting on the circular indicates any amount of an approved Pera TCC exceeding the tax actually due on the return where it’s applied is forfeited in favor of the government rather than carried forward or refunded — RA 9505’s original no-refund design, now enforced through a system that can track an issued certificate against what gets used.

QR-code validation and why it matters #

RMC No. 94-2026 introduces QR-code validation for issued Pera Tax Credit Certificates, giving the concerned Revenue District Office (RDO) a way to confirm a certificate’s authenticity and status directly through the BIR’s ePERA System before it is applied. Once a contributor (or their employer, applying the credit through payroll) presents a Pera TCC, the RDO can scan or look up the certificate through ePERA rather than relying on the document’s face value alone. After the certificate is used, the RDO tags it “Claimed” in the system — closing the loop against a certificate being applied twice, whether through duplication, alteration, or confusion between a current and prior year’s certificate.

Worked example: an employee’s Pera TCC under the new process #

Suppose an employee contributed the full ₱100,000 to their PERA account in 2026, earning a ₱5,000 tax credit (5% of ₱100,000) under RA 9505. Here is how that credit now moves from contribution to payslip under RMC No. 94-2026’s process:

The employee never files a separate BIR application — the entire chain runs through the Pera Administrator, PeraSys, and ePERA, with the employee’s role limited to confirming the contribution and requesting the certificate.

Frequently asked questions #

What is RMC No. 94-2026 and what does it change about claiming the PERA tax credit? #

Revenue Memorandum Circular No. 94-2026 is a BIR circular issued in September 2026 that provides additional guidelines on issuing, verifying, and utilizing PERA Tax Credit Certificates (Pera TCCs) under Republic Act No. 9505. It does not change the 5% credit rate itself — it changes how the certificate is applied for and processed, requiring the Pera Administrator to file electronically through the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’ PeraSys system, interconnected with the BIR’s ePERA System, and adds QR-code validation for issued certificates.

Do I, as a PERA contributor, have to apply for my own Pera Tax Credit Certificate? #

No. Under RMC No. 94-2026, it is the Pera Administrator — the accredited bank, trust entity, investment house, or insurance company holding your PERA account — that electronically files the Pera Tax Credit Certificate application on your behalf, within 60 days from the end of each calendar year, through PeraSys. You do not submit a separate application to the BIR yourself.

How does the PERA tax credit actually appear on my tax return or payslip? #

Depending on your contributor type and the return involved, the credit is applied either as a year-end withholding tax adjustment — labeled as a line for the Pera tax credit under other tax credits or payments in payroll processing for employees — or reflected in the payment-details portion of the applicable BIR tax return for self-employed or overseas Filipino contributors filing their own returns.

What is the QR code on a Pera Tax Credit Certificate for? #

RMC No. 94-2026 introduces QR-code validation so the concerned BIR Revenue District Office can confirm a Pera Tax Credit Certificate’s authenticity and status directly through the BIR’s ePERA System before it is applied, then tag the certificate as utilized once claimed. This is meant to reduce the risk of a duplicated, altered, or already-used certificate being applied a second time.

What happens if my Pera Administrator misses the 60-day filing deadline? #

RMC No. 94-2026 sets the 60-day-from-year-end window as the Pera Administrator’s filing duty, not the contributor’s. If a filing is delayed, the practical impact falls on the contributor, since the Pera Tax Credit Certificate needed to support the 5% credit on that year’s return may not be available in time — contributors should follow up with their Pera Administrator well before their own return’s filing deadline rather than assuming the certificate will already be on hand.

Does RMC No. 94-2026 change the 5% PERA tax credit rate or the contribution caps? #

No. The 5% tax credit rate and the annual contribution caps under Republic Act No. 9505 — ₱100,000 for most contributors, ₱200,000 for overseas Filipinos — are unchanged. RMC No. 94-2026 addresses only the electronic application, validation, and monitoring process for the certificate evidencing that credit, not the underlying entitlement or its ceiling.

Summary #

RMC No. 94-2026 leaves the 5% PERA tax credit itself untouched but tightens how the Pera Tax Credit Certificate that evidences it gets issued: the Pera Administrator files electronically through PeraSys within 60 days of year-end, the BIR’s ePERA System processes the application in real time, and the resulting certificate carries a QR code the BIR validates and tags as claimed once used. For a contributor, the practical takeaway is to confirm with your Pera Administrator that the filing happened on schedule and to request your certificate promptly once approved — the credit still only offsets an actual tax liability under Republic Act No. 9505’s original no-cash-refund rule. For the underlying 5% credit, its calculation, and the annual contribution caps this process sits on top of, see PERA Tax Incentives: How the 5% BIR Tax Credit Works Under RA 9505.