BIR Form 1601-C: Monthly Remittance of Withholding Tax on Compensation

BIR Form 1601-C is the Monthly Remittance Return of Income Taxes Withheld on Compensation. Every employer (a "withholding agent") that deducts income tax from its employees' salaries, wages, and other compensation uses this return to declare and remit that withheld tax to the Bureau of Internal Revenue each month.

The form covers withholding tax on compensation only — the income tax you take out of an employee's pay under the graduated rates of Section 24(A) of the National Internal Revenue Code (NIRC), as implemented by the withholding tax tables in Revenue Regulations (RR) No. 11-2018. It does not cover the employee's share of SSS, PhilHealth, or Pag-IBIG; those are separate statutory contributions remitted to the respective agencies.

1601-C is a remittance return, not an assessment. You are simply forwarding to the BIR the tax you already collected from employees during the month. There is no separate liability of the employer here — the money belongs to the employees and is credited to them at year-end on BIR Form 2316.

It is the monthly building block of compensation withholding. The monthly 1601-C filings are reconciled once a year on BIR Form 1604-C (the Annual Information Return), accompanied by the Alphabetical List (alphalist) of employees, and each employee is issued a BIR Form 2316 showing their full-year compensation and tax withheld.

Any person or entity that pays compensation and is required to withhold income tax on that compensation must file 1601-C. This includes corporations, partnerships, sole proprietors with employees, professional partnerships, government offices and instrumentalities, non-stock non-profit organizations, and even households that employ and withhold from staff.

You file 1601-C for every month in which you have an obligation to withhold — even if the form is the same return each period. A key rule that trips up small employers: if all your employees are minimum wage earners (exempt under RA 9504) or earn within the ₱250,000 annual tax-exempt threshold so that no tax is withheld, you may still be required to file a 1601-C reflecting zero tax remitted, depending on your registration. When in doubt, file a zero return rather than skip it.

You generally must file 1601-C if you:

• Are registered with the BIR as an employer / withholding agent on compensation (reflected on your Certificate of Registration, BIR Form 2303)
• Pay salaries, wages, allowances, commissions, or other taxable compensation to employees
• Withheld income tax from at least one employee during the month
• Have employees but withheld zero tax for the month (file a zero/no-payment return unless your RDO has exempted you)

For manual and eBIRForms filers, BIR Form 1601-C must be filed and the tax remitted on or before the 10th day of the month following the month in which the tax was withheld. For example, tax withheld in January 2026 is due on or before 10 February 2026; tax withheld in November is due 10 December.

For taxpayers enrolled in the Electronic Filing and Payment System (eFPS), filing follows the staggered schedule under RR No. 26-2002 based on industry grouping. eFPS filers e-file between the 11th and the 15th of the following month depending on their industry group (Groups A through E), and e-pay on or before the 15th. Always confirm your assigned group with your Revenue District Office (RDO).

If the deadline falls on a Saturday, Sunday, or legal/special non-working holiday, the deadline moves to the next working day. Late filing or remittance triggers a 25% surcharge (50% if fraudulent), 12% annual interest under the TRAIN Law (RA 10963), and a compromise penalty.

Note the December nuance: under the staggered regime, the December 1601-C for eFPS users may carry a January due date in the following year. Check the official BIR Tax Calendar each year for the exact dates.

The Ease of Paying Taxes Act (RA 11976, signed January 2024) and its implementing regulations — principally RR No. 4-2024 — removed the old requirement to file and pay only at your home RDO or its accredited agent bank. Under EOPT, you may now file your 1601-C and pay the tax at ANY Authorized Agent Bank (AAB), any Revenue District Office through a Revenue Collection Officer (RCO), or electronically. This is the "file and pay anywhere" rule.

RR 4-2024 also clarified the venue rules so that the previous 25% surcharge for "wrong venue" filing no longer applies in the same way — the focus shifts to filing on time through any acceptable channel. Electronic channels (eBIRForms with online payment, or eFPS) remain the most reliable way to meet the deadline.

EOPT additionally rationalized classifications and several other returns, but for compensation withholding the practical takeaways are: (1) you have more flexibility on where to file and pay, and (2) digital filing through eBIRForms or eFPS is now the default expectation for most active employers.

Employers and businesses juggle several withholding returns. The most common confusion is between 1601-C (compensation), the expanded withholding forms (0619-E / 1601-EQ), and the final withholding forms (0619-F / 1601-FQ). They cover different income types and follow different schedules, so filing one does not satisfy the obligation for another.

Compensation withholding (1601-C) is monthly with no separate quarterly return — it is reconciled annually on 1604-C. Expanded and final withholding shifted to a monthly-remittance-plus-quarterly-return structure after the TRAIN Law: you remit for the first two months of a quarter on the 0619 forms, then file the quarterly 1601-EQ or 1601-FQ.

Most employers file through the eBIRForms Offline Package (download the latest version from the BIR website), while large taxpayers and mandated entities use eFPS. The data you enter is the same; only the channel differs.

Filing 1601-C via eBIRForms (typical employer)

• Open the eBIRForms Offline Package and select BIR Form 1601-C (latest version, e.g. v2018 ENCS).
• Enter your TIN, branch code, RDO code, and the return period (the month and year the tax was withheld).
• Input total compensation paid for the month, then the taxable and non-taxable/exempt compensation, and the total tax withheld and remitted.
• Validate the form, then click Submit/Final Copy — eBIRForms sends it to the BIR and you receive a Tax Return Receipt Confirmation by email. Save that confirmation.
• Pay the tax through an online channel (GCash, Maya, LandBank Link.Biz, DBP, UnionBank) or at any AAB/RCO under the file-and-pay-anywhere rule. Keep the payment proof with your records.
• For eFPS filers: log in to the eFPS portal, select 1601-C, encode the same figures, submit, then proceed to e-payment via your enrolled bank on or before your group's deadline.

The twelve monthly 1601-C returns are not the end of the story. At year-end, the BIR reconciles what you remitted monthly against the full-year picture for each employee. Three documents close the loop.

First, BIR Form 1604-C — the Annual Information Return of Income Taxes Withheld on Compensation — summarizes the full year and is due on or before 31 January of the following year. Second, the Alphabetical List (alphalist) of employees, submitted with 1604-C, lists every employee with their gross compensation and tax withheld. Third, BIR Form 2316 is the certificate you give each employee (and file with the BIR) showing their individual compensation and tax withheld for the year — the document that supports an employee's substituted filing.

If your monthly 1601-C remittances do not add up to the totals on 1604-C and the alphalist, the BIR will flag the discrepancy. Accurate, on-time monthly 1601-C filing is what makes the year-end reconciliation clean.

Compensation withholding errors are among the most frequent BIR findings because payroll runs every month and small mistakes compound. A few recurring issues are worth guarding against.

Avoid these 1601-C pitfalls:

• Skipping a zero return — if you are a registered employer you generally still file even when no tax was withheld.
• Wrong return period — encode the month the tax was WITHHELD, not the month you are filing.
• Confusing 1601-C with 0619-E/1601-EQ — supplier and professional payments are expanded withholding, not compensation.
• Forgetting the 13th-month and de minimis rules — the first ₱90,000 of 13th-month pay and other benefits is non-taxable, while qualified de minimis benefits are separately exempt (only their excess over the prescribed limits is added to the ₱90,000 bucket); mis-stating these inflates or understates withholding.
• Not annualizing in December — employers must perform the year-end annualization so the December 1601-C reflects the true full-year tax due per employee.
• Missing the deadline — late remittance carries a 25% surcharge plus 12% annual interest, which the BIR collects from the employer, not the employee.