Electronic Certificate Authorizing Registration (eCAR)
What is an eCAR?
The Electronic Certificate Authorizing Registration (eCAR) is an attestation by the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) Commissioner (or his duly authorized representative) which confirms that the taxes incurred in the transfer of real and personal properties have already been paid. Basically, it is a tax clearance document issued by the BIR. An Electronic Certificate Authorizing Registration or eCAR is a mandatory requirement, for without an eCAR, the title or ownership to such real property, such as a building, improvement or lot or land or condominium, or personal properties, particularly for shares of stock, cannot be transferred to the new owner.
BIR has developed the eCAR System which creates the electronically generated Certificate Authorizing Registration (CAR). The said system has barcode verification in order to prevent errors incurred in manually preparing the CAR and to eliminate the risk of having spurious CAR documents.
On April 8, 2019, the BIR issued the Revenue Regulations (RR) No. 3-2019 which directs that only eCARs issued by the BIR (from the eCAR system) are accepted by the Provincial, City and Municipal Assessor’s Offices of all LGUs, banks, and other issuers of Stock Certificates, Bonds, and other similar Paper Securities.
eCAR?
An eCAR is a very important requirement. Previously, the Certificate Authorizing Registration or CAR has been done manually. With the current shift of physical issuances to a more systematic electronic platform, the eCAR lessens the risks that one might encounter with a manually prepared CAR. You will need to have an eCAR, as this is needed for registration and transfer of real (like condominium or land) and personal properties (particularly shares of stock, not traded in the Philippines). Before you can transfer the shares of your corporation or your land title or condominium title, you need an eCAR issued by the BIR, as well. This is deemed to be a mandatory requirement for the transfer.
The eCAR confirms that all the taxes incurred for the transfer of shares have been paid.
It is possible to process the eCAR application on your own. However, you must allot time and effort and expect multiple trips to the BIR just to complete your eCAR application. Indeed, you have to plan ahead and budget your time accordingly because there are times when the documents could be unavailable, etc. Expect other possible setbacks especially with the COVID-19 pandemic, which makes process time longer than usual.
You will save time if you are assisted by an expert. Skip the long, tedious process by having your eCAR application processed by FILEDOCSPHIL.
Questions? We got you. Ask more about eCAR application concerns here.