RMC No. 115-2026: BIR Form 2550Q and BIR Form 2551Q Deadline Extended to October 29, 2026

Revenue Memorandum Circular (RMC) No. 115-2026 moves the deadline for filing and paying the Quarterly VAT Return (BIR Form 2550Q) and the Quarterly Percentage Tax Return (BIR Form 2551Q) for the quarter ended September 30, 2026, from October 26 to October 29, 2026. The Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) granted the extension because its Electronic Filing and Payment System (eFPS) went down around the original deadline. Taxpayers who file and pay by the new date face no late-filing penalty for the days gained.

If you were staring down the original October 26 cutoff this week, the short version is: you now have three extra days, and nothing else about how BIR Form 2550Q or BIR Form 2551Q is computed changed.

What does RMC No. 115-2026 actually say? #

RMC No. 115-2026 is the BIR circular, signed by Commissioner Charlito Martin R. Mendoza on October 26, 2026, and effective immediately, that extends the filing and payment deadline — along with submission of required attachments — for the Quarterly VAT Return and the Quarterly Percentage Tax Return covering the third quarter of 2026. The BIR issued it after reporting that its eFPS, the online channel used by mandated large and mid-sized filers to e-file and e-pay, was unavailable around the statutory due date.

News coverage of the circular describes its penalty relief this way:

“No penalties will be imposed for filings and payments made within the extended deadline.”

— reported by DZRH and Philippine Daily Inquirer in their coverage of RMC No. 115-2026

Because this is a same-week news item rather than a document indexed on the BIR’s own issuances page yet, this post relies on that corroborated secondary reporting rather than a direct BIR PDF link — update this post with the BIR’s own issuance link once it is posted on bir.gov.ph.

Why was the deadline originally October 26, not October 25? #

BIR Form 2550Q and BIR Form 2551Q are both due on the 25th day after each taxable quarter closes, under NIRC Sections 114(A) and 128, and because that 25th day fell on Sunday, October 25, 2026, the statutory deadline for the third quarter of 2026 had already rolled to the next business day, October 26, 2026. RMC No. 115-2026 then pushed that already-rolled date three additional days, to Thursday, October 29, 2026.

Who does the extension cover? #

The extension applies to taxpayers filing and paying BIR Form 2550Q (Quarterly VAT Return) and BIR Form 2551Q (Quarterly Percentage Tax Return) for the quarter ended September 30, 2026, including the required attachments that travel with those returns, such as the RELIEF Summary List of Sales and Purchases. News reports tie the extension directly to eFPS downtime, so it most clearly applies to eFPS-enrolled filers caught by the outage; coverage does not spell out separate treatment for eBIRForms or manual filers in detail, and that gap is a caveat worth flagging below rather than guessing at.

Worked example: a VAT-registered retailer caught by the outage #

This worked example follows a fictional VAT-registered retailer, “Mercado Mini-Mart,” that tried to e-file BIR Form 2550Q through eFPS on the original October 26, 2026 deadline, found the system down, and — under RMC No. 115-2026 — now has until October 29, 2026 to file and pay roughly ₱42,000 in net VAT without penalty. Its bookkeeper logged in on the morning of October 26, 2026 — the statutory deadline that year — to file BIR Form 2550Q for the July–September 2026 quarter and remit that net VAT payable, but the eFPS portal would not accept the filing. Under RMC No. 115-2026, Mercado Mini-Mart avoids the 25% surcharge under NIRC Section 248 and the Section 249 interest that would otherwise start accruing from October 27 onward, provided it files and pays by October 29. If the bookkeeper had instead filed successfully through a fallback channel on October 26 itself, no extension would have been needed — the relief exists specifically for the days the system was down.

What if the extension doesn’t apply to your return? #

If you file a different return not named in RMC No. 115-2026, or you already missed a BIR Form 2551Q deadline in an earlier quarter, the standard late-filing penalty stack of a surcharge, interest, and a compromise penalty still applies in full, with no extension to soften it. See Penalty for Filing BIR Form 2551Q Late for a worked peso-exact example of that surcharge, interest, and compromise penalty. For the mechanics of filing BIR Form 2551Q itself, including who is required to file it, see How to File BIR Form 2551Q.

Summary #

RMC No. 115-2026 gives filers of BIR Form 2550Q and BIR Form 2551Q for the quarter ended September 30, 2026 until October 29, 2026 — three extra days past the October 26 statutory deadline — because the BIR’s eFPS was unavailable around the original due date. Filings and payments made within that window draw no late-filing penalty. The extension is specific to this quarter’s eFPS disruption; it does not change the standing 25-day-after-quarter-end rule for future quarters, and it does not excuse a return that was already overdue before this circular. If you are unsure whether your filing channel or taxpayer category is covered, confirm directly with your Revenue District Office or eFPS helpdesk before relying on the new date.