Self-employed individuals and professionals in the Philippines have until Monday, Nov. 16, to file and pay their third-quarter income tax on Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) Form 1701Q, covering the three months to Sept. 30, according to the November 2026 tax calendar published by PwC Philippines.

The BIR's own rules set Nov. 15 as the third-quarter deadline for the form. That date falls on a Sunday this year, which pushes the cutoff to the next working day. The return covers freelancers, consultants, doctors, lawyers, online sellers and other individuals with business or professional income, including employees who also earn money on the side.

For the large pool of Filipinos working for overseas clients or selling online, the quarterly filing is where most of the year's tax decisions are made.

How the BIR's 8% option works

The BIR offers individuals with business or professional income a choice of two systems, according to the income tax page on its website.

Those whose gross sales or receipts and other non-operating income do not exceed the value-added tax threshold of P3 million may pay a flat 8% on gross receipts above P250,000. That 8% replaces both the graduated income tax and the separate percentage tax that non-VAT sellers would otherwise owe on Form 2551Q.

The alternative is the graduated schedule under the Tax Code, as amended by Republic Act No. 10963, the TRAIN law. Under that table, the first P250,000 of net taxable income is taxed at 0%. Income between P250,000 and P400,000 is taxed at 20% of the excess. The rate steps up to 25%, 30% and 32% across further bands and reaches 35% on net taxable income above P8 million, where the tax is P2.41 million plus 35% of the excess.

A simple illustration using the BIR's formulas: a freelancer with P1.2 million in gross receipts and no other income would owe P76,000 under the 8% option (8% of P950,000). If the same person's net taxable income after expenses were P720,000, the graduated table would put the tax at P110,000 (P30,000 plus 25% of the amount above P400,000), before any percentage tax. The result depends heavily on how much of the gross is eaten by deductible costs, which is why the comparison is worth running before filing.

Anyone whose receipts exceed P3 million is not eligible for the 8% rate and must use the graduated schedule, the BIR says.

Mixed earners and what the form needs

People who draw a salary and run a side business are treated in two parts. Compensation income is always taxed at graduated rates, and the BIR says it does not need to be reported on the quarterly 1701Q; it goes on the annual return instead. The business or professional income can still qualify for the 8% option if it stays under the P3 million threshold. For mixed earners, the BIR describes the 8% as applying to gross sales or receipts and other non-operating income, without the P250,000 deduction it lists for purely self-employed taxpayers.

Supporting papers listed by the BIR include BIR Form 2307 certificates for any tax that clients withheld at source, which can be credited against the amount due, and a Summary Alphalist of Withholding Agents (SAWT) where applicable. Electronic filers pay through the eFPS system; others file through the eBIRForms package and pay at an authorized agent bank in the revenue district where they are registered.

Individuals who earn only compensation income with taxable income of P250,000 or less, minimum wage earners, and employees whose tax was correctly withheld by a single employer for the year are not required to file income tax returns, according to the BIR.

Other changes in play this year

Investment income is taxed separately. Since July 1, 2025, the Capital Markets Efficiency Promotion Act (Republic Act No. 12214) has set the final withholding tax on interest from peso and foreign-currency bank deposits and trust funds at 20%, and cut the stock transaction tax to 0.1% from 0.6%, according to a BusinessWorld tax column by P&A Grant Thornton. Revenue Regulations No. 29-2025, published Dec. 22, 2025, raised several tax-free de minimis benefit ceilings for employees, including a rice subsidy of up to P2,500 a month and a uniform allowance of up to P8,000 a year, the column said.

Household budgets are under pressure going into the deadline: Philippine inflation reached 7.8% in October, squeezing the cash that self-employed workers set aside for quarterly payments.

Non-VAT sellers who chose the graduated system still owe percentage tax on Form 2551Q. For businesses with a quarter ending Oct. 31, that return is due Nov. 25, the PwC calendar shows. The next filing for individuals after Nov. 16 is the annual income tax return, which the BIR requires on or before April 15 for the 2026 calendar year.