Registration and tax profile
Whether what you registered as still matches what you do. VAT against non-VAT, the tax types on your certificate, and what changes if you move between them.
“Are we registered as the right thing?”
Tax consultation
Tax consultation in the Philippines
The tax questions that do not come with a deadline. What your structure is costing you, what a transaction will trigger, and whether a position you have held for years still holds. Answered before the decision, in writing.
- Scoped to a question, so the fee is knowable before we start
- Findings in writing, with the assumptions they rest on
- We will tell you if the answer is to change nothing
Or call 0917 631 8876 — Mondays to Fridays.
The distinction
Compliance has deadlines. Consultation has consequences.
Tax compliance is the work you cannot avoid: returns, remittances, renewals, each with a date attached. Miss one and you know, because something arrives in the post.
Consultation is the work nobody chases you for. Whether the structure you set up three years ago still suits the business you run now. What an acquisition will trigger. Whether a treatment you have applied since registration would survive being looked at. Nothing prompts these — which is precisely why they compound.
The expensive decisions in tax are rarely the ones you got wrong. They are the ones nobody asked about.
Looking for the filings rather than the advice? Our tax compliance service covers the returns and the calendar.
Side by side
- Prompted by
- A deadlineA decision
- Cadence
- Monthly, quarterly, annualA handful of moments
- You notice a failure
- When a notice arrivesYears later, if at all
- Output
- A filed returnA written position
ComplianceConsultation
The moments
Six moments worth an hour of advice
People recognise the moment before they recognise the need. If one of these is where you are, the conversation is short and the value is highest — because the options are still open.
Before you register
The registration type you choose decides what you file for the life of the business. Changing it later is possible and rarely pleasant.
When the business has changed
New activity, new revenue streams, a second entity, staff for the first time. The filings do not update themselves when the business moves.
Before a transaction
A sale, a transfer of assets, a new investor, a group reorganisation. Terms are negotiable until they are signed, and tax is part of the terms.
When crossing a border
Paying a foreign parent, receiving investment, or employing people in another jurisdiction. Cross-border movement is where assumptions quietly stop holding.
When a notice arrives
Before you reply. What the notice is and what it asks for both shape the right response, and an early answer can narrow your options.
When nobody has checked
A position taken years ago that nobody has tested since. The rules move; a treatment that was right in 2019 may not be right now.
What we advise on
Six areas, and the question each one answers
Every engagement starts from a question rather than a service. If yours is on this list, we already know where to look.
Structure and exposure review
How the entity is built, how money moves through it, and where that creates a liability nobody has priced. Most exposure is structural rather than clerical.
“What is our current structure costing us?”
Incentives and relief
Whether your activity, location or investment brings you inside an incentive regime, what qualifying would require, and whether the obligations attached are worth it.
“Are we leaving anything on the table?”
Transaction planning
What a sale, a transfer, a restructuring or a new shareholder will trigger — worked out before it is signed, while the terms can still change.
“What happens if we do this?”
BIR assessments
Support through an examination: reading what has actually been raised, assembling what is asked for, and advising on the position to take and what it rests on.
“We have a notice. What now?”
A second opinion
A review of advice you already have, or of a position you have been taking for years without anyone testing it. Often the cheapest hour you will spend.
“Is what we are doing defensible?”
How it runs
Scoped to a question, not to an hourly clock
An open-ended tax engagement suits the adviser and nobody else. We agree what the question is and what you get before starting, and if the work turns out larger than the question we come back to you rather than bill through it.
We agree the question
Not 'review our tax'. Something answerable — should we register for VAT, what does this acquisition trigger, is this treatment defensible. A sharp question is what makes the work finite and the fee knowable.
We look at the facts
Your registration, your books, the contracts that matter, and what has actually been filed. Advice given on described facts rather than examined ones is worth what it costs.
You get findings in writing
What we found, what it means, and the assumptions each conclusion rests on — so you can see when a recommendation would stop applying rather than discovering it later.
Ranked, not listed
If there are several things to address, they come in the order we would address them, with the reasoning. A list of twelve equal-weight items helps nobody decide anything.
We implement what is ours
Registration changes, filings, the accounting treatment that follows. Where it needs a lawyer or a corporate secretary we say so rather than stretch.
Questions we get
Before you ask the question
What is the difference between tax compliance and tax consultation?
Compliance is the work with a deadline attached — returns, remittances, renewals. Consultation is the work without one: whether your structure is costing you, which registration fits, what a transaction will trigger before you sign it. Most businesses need compliance continuously and consultation at a handful of specific moments.
When is the right time to ask?
Before the thing happens, not after. The decisions that cost the most are the ones already executed — a structure registered, an asset transferred, a contract signed. Once it is done, the options narrow to managing the consequence. A conversation beforehand is usually short and almost always cheaper.
We received a notice from the BIR. What now?
Send it to us before you respond. What the notice is, what it asks for, and what the deadline on it says all change the right next step, and an early reply made without reading it carefully can narrow your position. We will tell you what it is and what we would do first.
Can you review a structure we already have?
Yes, and that is most of this work. We look at what you registered as, what you actually do, how money moves between entities if there is more than one, and where those three create exposure. You get findings in writing, ranked by what we would address first.
Do you give advice in writing?
Yes. Verbal advice on tax is worth very little six months later when the facts are being reconstructed. Anything we recommend comes with the reasoning and the assumptions it rests on, so you can see what it depends on and when it would stop applying.
Will you tell us if there is nothing to do?
Yes, and it happens. A review that ends with 'your structure is appropriate, leave it alone' is a useful outcome — you stop wondering. We would rather say that than manufacture a restructuring to justify the engagement.
Do you handle the implementation as well as the advice?
Where it is our work, yes — registration changes, filings, the accounting treatment that follows. Where it needs a lawyer or a corporate secretary we will say so rather than stretch. Advice that cannot be executed is not much use.
How is a consultation priced?
By scope rather than by the hour, because an open-ended clock suits nobody. We agree what the question is, what we will look at, and what you get at the end before starting. If the work turns out to be larger than the question, we come back to you rather than bill through it.
Tell us the question
You do not need it framed in tax terms. “We are buying a competitor” or “a notice arrived” or “nobody has looked at this since 2021” is enough to start. We will tell you what it turns into, what we would look at, and what it costs to answer properly.