THE Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) is working with the Supreme Court to remove the paper requirement for documentary stamp tax (DST) from electronically notarized transactions, a move that could further streamline document processing for businesses and other taxpayers.
BIR Commissioner Charlito Martin Mendoza said the two were exploring ways to allow DST to be paid and affixed electronically so documents that are executed, signed and notarized online would no longer need to be printed solely for tax compliance.
“If a document can be executed, signed, notarized and verified electronically, it should not have to go back to paper just to comply with the documentary stamp tax,” Mendoza said.
The BIR and the Supreme Court discussed the proposed alignment of the BIR’s Electronic Documentary Stamp Tax (eDST) system with the high court’s electronic notarization facilities during a meeting on Aug. 11.
The agencies had identified DST affixture as the remaining paper-based step in the electronic notarization process during earlier discussions in February.
The proposed integration will allow the tax component of an electronically notarized document to be handled digitally, potentially reducing manual processing and the need to maintain paper copies for this purpose.
Mendoza said the initiative was intended to make government transactions simpler and easier to verify.
“We are redesigning processes so government systems work together and transactions become simpler, faster and easier to verify,” he said.
The move builds on the Supreme Court’s Rules on Electronic Notarization, approved in February 2025, and the BIR’s Revenue Regulations 28-2025, issued in December 2025, which implemented the enhanced eDST system and required its use by covered taxpayers, including notaries public.
The BIR said the initiative supported its broader digitalization efforts and the government’s ease-of-doing-business agenda.
The agencies have yet to complete the process of aligning the two systems, with discussions focused on how electronic payment and constructive affixture of DST can be incorporated into electronically notarized transactions.
