RMC No. 62-2026: BIR Extends Tax Deadlines for Earthquake-Hit General Santos and South Cotabato

RMC No. 62-2026 extended BIR filing, payment, and submission deadlines that fell between June 8 and June 29, 2026 to June 30, 2026, for taxpayers registered under Revenue District Office No. 110 (General Santos City and Sarangani) and RDO No. 111 (South Cotabato) — the area hit hardest by the magnitude-7.8 earthquake that struck offshore Sarangani on the morning of June 8, 2026. If you were registered in either RDO and your original due date fell inside that three-week window, the operative deadline became June 30, 2026, with no surcharge, interest, or compromise penalty for returns, payments, or documents filed by that date.

Why did the BIR issue a deadline extension for South Central Mindanao? #

A magnitude-7.8 earthquake struck approximately 20 kilometers off the coast of Sarangani province and 13 kilometers southwest of General Santos City at 7:37 a.m. on June 8, 2026, registering PHIVOLCS Intensity VIII — “very destructive” — in General Santos City itself, where several structures collapsed. PHIVOLCS reported at least nine deaths in General Santos City and tsunami waves of roughly one meter along the coasts of Kiamba and Maasim in Sarangani and Kalamansig in Sultan Kudarat. With RDOs, taxpayer premises, and supporting infrastructure disrupted across the affected area, the BIR used its standing authority under the NIRC to grant a filing extension to the taxpayers registered there, issuing RMC No. 62-2026 on June 9, 2026 — the day after the quake.

The circular’s title, as summarized in PwC’s Tax Alert No. 35, describes the measure as:

“Providing Extension of the Deadlines for the Filing of Tax Returns and Payment of the Corresponding Taxes Due Thereon, Including Submission of Required Documents for Taxpayers within the Jurisdiction of Revenue District Offices of the Bureau of Internal Revenue that were Affected by the Recent Earthquake in Revenue Region No. 18 - South Central Mindanao.”

That framing — extension tied to RDO jurisdiction rather than to a taxpayer’s individually assessed damage — is the same pattern the BIR later used for the Habagat rains in RMC No. 89-2026: name the affected RDOs, move the date, and waive penalties for anyone registered there who meets the new date.

Which RDOs and deadlines did RMC No. 62-2026 actually cover? #

Coverage was limited to two Revenue District Offices under Revenue Region No. 18, and to deadlines that fell inside a specific three-week window — not to every taxpayer in Mindanao and not to every 2026 deadline. The table below summarizes what moved and what didn’t.

Returns covered by the extension spanned the ordinary monthly and periodic filing load for a business taxpayer — monthly withholding tax remittance returns, VAT returns, percentage tax returns, corporate income tax returns, excise tax returns, and various information returns due in that window, based on the coverage described in contemporaneous reporting from the Philippine News Agency and BusinessWorld. A taxpayer registered under RDO No. 110 or 111 whose only obligation due in that window was, say, a June 10 BIR Form 0619-E remittance for May compensation payments still qualified, even if their own office suffered no physical damage — eligibility ran on RDO registration, not on a case-by-case damage assessment.

Worked example: a General Santos processing plant catching up #

Because RMC No. 62-2026’s relief tracked RDO registration rather than individual damage claims, a taxpayer’s own practical question was simple: was my original due date inside June 8-29, and am I registered under RDO 110 or 111? Consider a fictional tuna-processing exporter registered with RDO No. 110 in General Santos City. Its BIR Form 1601-C (withholding tax on compensation) for May 2026 payroll was originally due June 10, 2026 — two days after the earthquake, with its finance office temporarily inaccessible and several staff displaced. Under RMC No. 62-2026, that return, plus the remittance itself, could be filed and paid as late as June 30, 2026 without a surcharge under NIRC Section 248 or interest under Section 249, since June 10 fell inside the covered window and the company’s registration matched one of the two named RDOs. Had its original due date instead been July 10 — outside the June 8-29 window — the extension would not have applied, and the ordinary deadline and penalty rules would have governed.

How does this compare to the later Habagat extensions? #

RMC No. 62-2026 and the August 2026 Habagat circulars share the same legal mechanism but operate at very different scale — useful context for reading any future BIR calamity extension. The table below lines them up.

Both rest on the same authority and both pair the RMC with a Bank Bulletin instructing Authorized Agent Banks to accept covered payments without penalty through the extended date. If you’re trying to figure out whether a calamity-based extension applies to you, the pattern to check is always the same: does a specific RMC name your RDO, and does your original due date fall inside the window that RMC actually extended? For the fuller regular-deadline picture this and any extension sits inside, see the 2026 BIR Tax Filing Deadlines Calendar; for what a missed deadline costs when no extension applies, see BIR Late Filing Penalties, Surcharge, and Interest.

Summary #

RMC No. 62-2026 gave taxpayers registered under RDO No. 110 (General Santos City and Sarangani) and RDO No. 111 (South Cotabato) until June 30, 2026 to meet deadlines that originally fell between June 8 and June 29, 2026, without surcharge, interest, or compromise penalty, in response to the magnitude-7.8 earthquake that struck the area on June 8, 2026. The relief was tied to RDO registration rather than individual damage, and it established the same RDO-specific, date-shifting pattern the BIR reused two months later for the much larger Habagat extensions. If you were outside RDO 110 or 111, or your due date fell outside June 8-29, this particular circular did not extend your deadline — check the specific RMC naming your RDO before assuming relief applies.