BIR Registration for Online Sellers and Online Businesses: What You Need to Know in 2026

Selling through Facebook, TikTok, Shopee, Lazada, a personal website, or another digital channel does not place a business outside the ordinary tax-registration framework.

The Bureau of Internal Revenue has been progressively applying registration and compliance rules to online businesses alongside physical businesses. In 2026, the rules are also more visible to customers: the BIR has introduced a Registration Seal Badge and QR-enabled registration documents so that registration can be verified without requiring an online seller to publicly display the entire Certificate of Registration.

That distinction matters. Registering with the BIR and displaying proof of registration are related requirements, but they are not the same thing.

The BIR's rules cover more than the person who sells products through an e-commerce marketplace.

Revenue Regulations No. 15-2024 applies to persons operating or maintaining online businesses, including businesses selling or providing goods or services through websites, webpages, social-media pages, platforms, or applications.¹ The rules also address businesses that have a physical store but operate an online presence, as well as businesses that operate online without a brick-and-mortar store.

The policy therefore reaches a wider group of digital earners than the phrase “online seller” might suggest. Depending on the activity and circumstances, this can include online merchants, digital service providers, professionals offering services online, and other persons conducting business through electronic channels.

The BIR has also publicly reminded online sellers that the registration requirement applies regardless of whether the business has a traditional physical storefront.⁸

Before worrying about a badge on your online shop, look at the underlying registration.

If you are starting a new business, the BIR registration follows the appropriate primary registration. A sole proprietor may first register the business name with DTI, while a corporation or partnership ordinarily proceeds through SEC registration. Cooperatives have their own CDA registration route.

For a broader roadmap, see our guide to registering a business in the Philippines in 2026.

The BIR then establishes the taxpayer's registration record. The BIR's ORUS provides an online route for taxpayer registration and registration updates.

The practical point is easy to miss: the online storefront is not the registration itself. Your Facebook page, TikTok account, marketplace shop, website, or other digital presence is a channel through which the business operates. The BIR registration belongs to the taxpayer and should accurately describe the business behind that channel.

One of the most important developments for online businesses is Revenue Memorandum Circular No. 38-2026, issued April 29, 2026.

RMC No. 38-2026 prescribes the issuance and posting of the BIR Registration Seal on online websites, e-commerce or e-marketplace seller or merchant pages, and other platforms, while also announcing the availability of QR codes in the BIR Certificate of Registration.¹

The circular implements the online-proof-of-registration requirements under the BIR's earlier registration regulations. It also responds to a practical privacy concern: posting an entire COR online can expose information that customers do not need to see.

Under the new approach, the BIR Registration Seal Badge can serve as the public-facing proof of registration. The badge is intended to allow customers and other relying parties to verify registration without requiring the taxpayer to publish the whole registration document.

The circular expressly covers taxpayers engaged in online selling, online services, and e-commerce activities. It also identifies digital activities such as online content creation, blogging, vlogging, livestreaming, influencing, affiliate commissions, brand sponsorships, and similar monetized online activity within the broader scope of the policy.

That means the conversation should not be limited to people selling physical products.

A person earning income from a monetized digital activity should first determine whether the activity constitutes a business or other taxable activity requiring registration and compliance. Once covered, the taxpayer should ensure that the registration record reflects the activity and that the applicable proof-of-registration requirements are followed.

No. This is one of the more important practical points in the 2026 rules.

The BIR's Annex B specifically instructs online taxpayers to post the Registration Seal Badge rather than the whole COR, helping prevent unnecessary disclosure of the taxpayer's TIN and address.²

The badge should remain clear, readable, and unaltered. The BIR also states that the posted badge should be visible and easily accessible to customers.

This is a useful improvement for both sides of an online transaction. Customers get a way to check registration, while businesses do not have to publish the complete registration document simply to demonstrate that they are registered.

The BIR's 2026 circular provides for QR codes on the COR/eCOR and Registration Seal Badge.

The QR code is designed to allow a relying party to verify the authenticity of the registration document and the taxpayer's current business registration status. The BIR specifically cautions users to check that the verification result leads to the Bureau's official verification domain before relying on the result.¹

That is particularly relevant to online commerce. A badge or image copied from another seller's page is not proof that the account displaying it belongs to a properly registered taxpayer. The verification step is what gives the badge practical value.

The BIR does not require taxpayers to replace an existing COR/eCOR merely because it does not contain a QR code.

RMC No. 38-2026 says taxpayers are nevertheless encouraged to update or replace the document to obtain a BIR Registration Seal Badge. For taxpayers required to post proof of registration online, the circular provides a process for securing the badge through the Revenue District Office or online through ORUS, subject to the applicable registration update and documentary-stamp-tax process.

The circular states that the Registration Seal Badge is issued free of charge, while the applicable ₱30 loose Documentary Stamp Tax applies to the relevant update transaction.¹

Because online systems and agency procedures can change, businesses should check the current ORUS workflow and their RDO's instructions before filing an update.

The BIR treats the online presence as part of the regulatory picture rather than as a separate universe.

RR No. 15-2024 provides that a business with a brick-and-mortar store that operates an online presence may need to register the store name used online as an additional business name attached to the head office or branch managing the online store, rather than treating the online store itself as a separate branch merely because it operates digitally.³

For an online business without a brick-and-mortar store, the same regulation provides registration rules based on the taxpayer's circumstances, including residence for individuals and the principal place of business registered with the SEC for juridical entities.

This is one reason businesses should not simply copy another seller's registration setup. The correct treatment depends on the taxpayer, the business structure, the physical setup, and how the online activity is actually operated.

Registration is only the beginning.

Revenue Regulations No. 7-2024 sets out registration and invoicing requirements under the Ease of Paying Taxes framework, including rules concerning business registration, certificates of registration, proof of registration on online platforms, and the issuance of invoices.⁴

For an online seller, that means the sales process should be considered as a whole. The business should know what invoice it is required to issue, how sales are recorded, how payments are reconciled, and how the activity is reflected in its tax records.

The fact that the customer found the business through social media does not change the underlying tax-compliance responsibility.

Not necessarily in exactly the same operational form, but the underlying tax-registration obligations remain important.

A seller using a marketplace may have a different customer journey from a business selling through its own website. The marketplace may process payments, provide order records, or issue platform-related documents, but the seller remains responsible for understanding its own registration, invoicing, books, filing, and payment obligations.

The BIR has also been monitoring digital platforms and online sellers as part of its enforcement and registration efforts. PIA reported in 2024 that BIR Revenue District Office 113-A in Davao was monitoring online sellers on platforms including Facebook, Shopee, Lazada and TikTok.⁹

That history is useful context for the 2026 Registration Seal Badge: the badge is not a standalone new tax. It is part of a broader move to make online registration visible and verifiable.

This is an area where old advice can become misleading quickly.

RMC No. 38-2026 expressly includes online content creators and similar monetized digital activities within the group for which the BIR identifies applicable registration codes and the Registration Seal Badge framework. The circular refers to bloggers, vloggers, livestreamers, content creators, influencers, and persons earning through online views, advertisements, affiliate commissions, brand sponsorships, or similar activities.

That does not mean every person who posts online automatically has the same registration requirements. The relevant question is the nature of the activity and whether the person is engaged in a taxable business or income-producing activity covered by the BIR rules.

If the activity has become a regular income-generating business, the safest approach is to determine the correct taxpayer classification and registration before assuming that informal online activity is outside the tax system.

Before treating your online shop or digital business as fully compliant, check the following:

There are a few shortcuts worth avoiding.

Do not simply download another seller's registration badge and place it on your own page. Do not publish a complete COR just because an old article told you to. Do not assume that registering a DTI business name automatically completes BIR registration. And do not treat a marketplace account as a substitute for the taxpayer's own registration and records.

Just as importantly, do not rely on screenshots of another seller's ORUS application or a checklist written before the current rules took effect. Government registration systems change, and a procedure that was correct in 2024 may no longer describe the process in 2026.

The BIR's approach to online businesses has been moving in a consistent direction: bring digital businesses into the same registration and tax-compliance framework that applies to other businesses, while adapting the way proof of registration is displayed to the digital environment.

The 2026 Registration Seal Badge is a good example. It does not create a separate category of “internet tax” simply because a business sells online. Instead, it gives the existing registration requirement a practical digital form.

For customers, that can make legitimacy easier to check. For businesses, it means registration is increasingly visible not only to government but also to the people who buy from them.

For Filipino MSMEs, the goal should not be to collect as many certificates as possible. The goal is to build a correct and coordinated compliance foundation from the start.

For an online business, that means the business structure, BIR registration, business activities, invoicing, records, online presence, and proof of registration should tell the same story. A registration badge is useful, but it is only one part of that foundation.

That is also why online sellers should resist the temptation to solve compliance one document at a time. If the business has changed how it operates, added activities, moved addresses, started selling through new channels, or begun earning from digital services, the underlying registration should be reviewed rather than simply adding another certificate to the file.

Kzen PH Consultancy can help online sellers and digital businesses assess the applicable registration and compliance requirements and coordinate the next steps across BIR and other relevant agencies. See our Primary Registration services or contact Kzen PH Consultancy for assistance.

This article was reviewed against current BIR materials available on August 22, 2026, including RMC No. 38-2026, its Registration Seal Badge guidance, RR No. 15-2024, RR No. 7-2024, RMC No. 91-2024, and current BIR online-registration information. Registration classifications, system workflows, documentary requirements, and implementation procedures may change; verify the current BIR instructions before filing or relying on a specific requirement.