The Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) announced on Wednesday that it will resume tax audits and field operations after a two-month preventive suspension.
Department of Finance Secretary Frederick Go and BIR Commissioner Charlito Mendoza formally announced the lifting of the suspension during a joint press conference at the BIR’s headquarters in Quezon City.
“The BIR has designed concrete reforms to make audits fairer, more predictable, and more accountable. These changes align with the administration’s big, bold reforms to improve the ease of doing business and strengthen trust in government,” Go said.
Effective immediately, the BIR will resume the issuance of electronic Letters of Authority (eLAs), Mission Orders (MOs), and Tax Verification Notices (TVNs). The continuation and completion of previously suspended audit cases, enforcement verification, assessment, and collection activities requiring field operations, as well as other audit and enforcement actions necessary to protect revenue or ensure compliance, will also restart.
The Bureau said additional safeguards have been put in place to prevent malpractice or abuse. Central to the reforms is the single-instance audit rule, under which a taxpayer will generally be subject to one electronic Letter of Authority per taxable year, covering all internal revenue taxes, except in limited and clearly defined cases.
Multiple eLAs issued for the same taxpayer and taxable year will be automatically consolidated into a single audit authority, although taxpayers may request non-consolidation within prescribed deadlines.
Last Friday, the BIR unveiled a comprehensive reform agenda that places audit reform and accountability at the core of its 2026 priorities, as it prepares to resume operations under tighter controls and stronger safeguards.
Dubbed BIR DARES, the reform program focuses on Digital and Data Transformation; Audit Reform and Accountability; Revenue Collection and Base Protection; Employee Empowerment and Welfare Promotion; and Service Excellence and Stakeholder Engagement.
The Bureau will also revive the revalida, or “audit-the-auditors,” system to strengthen internal accountability.
“These are reforms we intend to institutionalize, embed in systems and processes, and carry forward so that they last. Audit reform, therefore, is one pillar of a broader, lasting transformation,” Mendoza said.
In late November 2025, the BIR suspended all field audits and the issuance of new Letters of Authority and Mission Orders amid allegations that these were being used in an agency-wide extortion scheme. Senator Erwin Tulfo alleged that as much as 70 percent of tax collections were being pocketed by corrupt officials.
The Senate Blue Ribbon Committee, where Tulfo serves as Vice Chair, opened its probe into the BIR on 11 December. During the hearing, Mendoza announced that the Bureau had filed administrative complaints for alleged direct bribery and corruption against two employees arrested in an entrapment operation in Taguig City.