Wealth and Finance

How to get a TIN (and TIN ID) in the Philippines

August 27, 2021 by Ray L. Leave a Comment

Tagalog Version (Click Here)

Taxes. Everyone pays taxes. You pay taxes whenever you earn a salary (depending on the TRAIN law), you pay taxes when you operate a business, and you even pay taxes when you’re buying something from the store. Taxes are an unavoidable part of modern life as it’s how governments earn money.

You will, at some point in your life, have to get a Taxpayer Identification Number (TIN) from the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR), and it’ll be the one you will use for the rest of your life. You can only have ONE TIN by the way as it’s illegal to have more.

Why do you need a TIN? There are lots of government, bank, or other official transactions where you’ll need to provide one, and in today’s online gig economy, if you want to start an online business, do freelance work online, or even earn money as a YouTube or Twitch Streamer, you’ll need to have a TIN to monetize and start earning money.

Here’s how to get a TIN and a TIN ID here in the Philippines.

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How to Get Your PSA Birth Certificate Online

June 9, 2021 by Ray L. 3 Comments

Tagalog Version (Click Here)

The most important personal document you could ever own is your birth certificate. It’s your main identification document and you’ll need it to get a lot of other very important things like your passport, your SSS UMID, driver’s license, and more. Fortunately, you no longer need to go to the nearest Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA)* branch. You can now order a copy of your birth certificate, as well as your children’s birth certificates, online.

You can get your birth certificate from two online sources:

PSA Helpline – https://psahelpline.ph/
PSA Serbilis – https://www.psaserbilis.com.ph/Default.aspx

*Trivia: Birth certificates used to be under the National Statistics Office (NSO) but that organization has been merged to be a part of the PSA.

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How to get a Postal ID (Philippine Postal ID Guide)

March 11, 2021 by Ray L. 4 Comments

Tagalog Version (Click Here)

Can you imagine life without a valid government-issued ID? You can’t open a bank account, you can’t verify yourself on online payment and transport apps like GCash and Grab, and you can’t prove your identity when picking up packages. Those are just some of the problems you’ll have to face, and you’re basically stuck and unable to do a lot of basic things simply because you don’t have a valid ID.

Unfortunately, most government IDs need OTHER valid IDs as a requirement to get them so if you don’t have an ID, you’re definitely stuck. Thankfully there’s one valid government-issued ID that’s relatively easy to get, and that’s the Philippine Postal ID (PID).

Here’s how to get your own Philippine Postal ID.

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AFPSLAI Dividend Schedule 2021

February 10, 2021 by Ray L. 17 Comments

UPDATE: AFPSLAI Dividend Schedule for 2022 posted! Click here!

UPDATE (7/16/2021): EDA for 2020 has been raised from 9% to 13% per annum. According to AFPSLAI, you’ll get the 3% difference after May 26, 2021. For the first quarter of 2021, the EDA is 14% per annum or 3.5% for that quarter.

While their dividend rates have gone down drastically to around 9% per annum since 2020, AFPSLAI‘s Capital Contribution Account (CCA) is still a very good investment vehicle. I pray that their dividend increases again once the economy recovers.

(Note: The EDA actually increased to 13% p.a. for 2020, and 14% p.a. for the first quarter of 2021. Look at the “Update” section above.)

If you want to avoid the long lines and crowded venue, I recommend getting your dividend a few weeks after the distribution period, and when you do go you should arrive very early. For comparison, if I get there by 8am on release day, my number would be on the hundreds already and my turn would come by 2pm or later. Nowadays, I go there weeks after release and arrive by 7am. If I do that, I can be done by 8:30am or 9am.

Anyway, if you want to look at the AFPSLAI dividend schedule for 2021, you can check it out here!

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[Self-Employed] How to File and Pay for the BIR Annual Fee Online

January 27, 2021 by Ray L. Leave a Comment

Tagalog Version (Click Here)

As a self-employed blogger, I’m required to register with the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) and pay taxes to the government. Aside from issuing receipts and paying my taxes personally, I also need to pay an annual registration fee of P500 (as of Jan. 2021) every year and I have to pay it before the start of February to avoid penalties. If you’re a self-employed individual like me, you’ll need to pay for that too.

When I went to the BIR RDO (Revenue District Office) where I’m registered in order to pay for the registration fee, a very helpful employee told me to file it online using eBIR and either pay for it in their accredited banks, or through GCash. Thankfully, the employee at the front desk taught me what I needed to click on and fill up in the eBIR forms using their 0605 payment form.

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