Every employer that withholds tax from salaries files BIR Form 1601-C (Monthly Remittance Return of Income Taxes Withheld on Compensation) for every month, even a month where nothing was withheld. The portal prepares the return for you from payroll you have already approved, so filing becomes copying numbers instead of building a spreadsheet.
Where to find it
Go to HR → Payroll and click BIR 1601-C. You need the View Payroll or Manage Payroll permission to open it; saving, filing and recording payments need Manage Payroll.
Set up once: Withholding Agent details
Click Withholding Agent and fill in the details printed on your BIR Certificate of Registration (Form 2303): TIN and branch code, RDO code, registered name, registered address and ZIP code, contact number and email. Choose how you file — eBIRForms (due on the 10th) or eFPS with your filing group (due on the 11th to the 15th) — and your taxpayer size, which sets the suggested penalty rates if you file late. These appear on Part I of the worksheet.
Which payroll goes into which month
- A payroll run counts in the month its period ends. A November 16–30 cutoff paid on December 5 is in the November return.
- Only approved runs count. Draft runs ending in the month are listed in a warning so you can approve them before you file. Voided and reversed runs are left out.
- 13th month pay released through HR → Payroll → 13th Month counts in the month of its release date.
How each item is filled in
| Item | What the portal puts there |
|---|---|
| 14 Total Amount of Compensation | Gross pay of every payslip, plus additions, less late and undertime deductions, plus 13th month released in the month. |
| 15 Statutory Minimum Wage (MWEs) | Basic and extra-day pay of employees ticked as MWE. |
| 16 Holiday, Overtime, Night Differential, Hazard Pay (MWEs) | Overtime, holiday, rest day and night differential pay of MWEs. |
| 17 13th Month Pay and Other Benefits | 13th month paid on payslips or released this month, up to the ₱90,000 yearly ceiling per employee (counting what was already paid earlier in the year). Anything above the ceiling stays taxable. |
| 18 De Minimis Benefits | Allowances whose type is marked de minimis. |
| 19 SSS, PhilHealth, Pag-IBIG (employee share) | The employee contributions deducted on the payslips. |
| 20 Other Non-Taxable Compensation | Entered by you, with a note, if you have exempt pay the portal does not know about. |
| 23 Taxable compensation not subject to withholding tax | Taxable compensation of employees other than MWEs who had no tax withheld this month — the ₱250,000-and-below group. |
| 25 Total Taxes Withheld | The withholding tax on the payslips. |
| 26, 28, 29, 32–34 | Adjustments from previous months, amounts already remitted (amended returns), other remittances, and penalties — entered by you and saved with the draft. |
Per-employee figures
Pick any Year and Month at the top of the page. Under the form, the Per employee tab lists everyone paid that month with their TIN, basic rate (monthly salary or hourly rate), basic pay, de minimis, OT & holidays (overtime, holiday, rest day and night differential pay), gross pay, government deductions (employee share of SSS, PhilHealth and Pag-IBIG — hover for the split), tax withheld and net pay, with a total row for all employees. The 1601-C breakdown tab shows how each person's pay lands on items 14 to 25. Employees missing a TIN are flagged — you will need it for the year-end alphalist and BIR Form 2316. Both tabs are in the CSV export and the printed worksheet.
Minimum wage earners
Tick MWE next to an employee in the employee table if they are paid the statutory minimum wage for your region. Their basic pay and their overtime, holiday and night differential pay then move to items 15 and 16 instead of taxable compensation. The flag stays on the employee for every month.
Filing
- Open the month. Check the warnings at the top (draft runs, missing agent details, missing TINs).
- Enter any adjustments or penalties and click Save draft. Late? Suggest penalties fills in the surcharge and interest for your taxpayer size; the compromise penalty is up to you.
- Open eBIRForms or eFPS, choose 1601-C, and copy the items in order. Print worksheet gives you a one-page copy laid out like the form. The ATC is WW010.
- After you submit, click Mark as filed and paste the filing confirmation or reference number. The figures are frozen at that moment.
- When you pay, click Record payment: date, amount, channel (bank, GCash, Maya, LandBank Link.BizPortal…) and reference. Choose the cash or bank account it was paid from to post DR 2070 Withholding Tax Payable / CR cash or bank automatically.
Due dates
eBIRForms and manual filers: the 10th of the following month. eFPS: the 15th (Group A), 14th (B), 13th (C), 12th (D) or 11th (E). The December return is due on January 15. A due date that falls on a weekend or on a holiday in HR → Holidays moves to the next working day. The year strip at the top marks every month Paid, Filed, Draft, Not filed or Overdue.
Amended returns
If a payroll run in a filed month is approved, recomputed or reversed afterwards, the page shows what changed. Click Start amended return: a new draft opens with item 28 (tax remitted in the return previously filed) already filled in, so only the difference is due. Filed returns can be moved back to draft until a payment is recorded; a recorded payment can be voided, which also voids its journal entry.
Commissions and freelancers
Employees' commissions (the Performance Bonus on the payslip) are compensation. They are included in item 14 and, since this release, the tax withheld on them is part of item 25 because payroll now taxes them in the period they are paid. Ticking Minimum wage earner for someone also tells payroll to withhold nothing on their wage, so tick it only for people actually paid the statutory minimum.
Freelancers (Employment type: Freelance on the staff profile) are paid professional fees with expanded withholding tax from Freelancer payouts. Those payments belong on the 1601-EQ and the 2307, not here. If a freelancer still shows up on a payroll run in the month, this page warns you: their pay is reported here as compensation.
Good to know
- The page reports what payroll actually withheld. If an employee's 13th month went over ₱90,000, the excess is taxable, but payroll did not withhold on it — the page warns you so it can be settled in the year-end annualization.
- Exports: Export CSV gives the form lines and the per-employee schedule for your records or your accountant.