DAT files & e-filing

Guides to BIR DAT files and e-filing for Philippine businesses: what DAT files are, how SLSP, SAWT, QAP and alphalist files are built, common errors, and XML e-filing.

Pillar guide

BIR DAT File Guide for the Philippines

DAT files are how the BIR ingests your summaries — SLSP, SAWT, QAP, alphalist. Here's what they are, how validation and submission work, the errors that bite, and why clean books make all of them fall out at once.

9 min readRead

Withholding

Alphalist Guide for Employers in the Philippines

The alphalist is the year-end roll-up of everyone you withheld from — employees and payees. Here's what it is, how it ties to your 1604C/1604E, why it's a DAT file, and how it reconciles to your payroll and books.

9 min readRead

BIR DAT Files Explained for Filipino Businesses

First time hearing 'submit a DAT file'? This is the plain-language explainer: what a .DAT file is, why the BIR uses one, which submissions need it, and why building one by hand is so error-prone.

9 min readRead

VAT

How to Prepare for BIR Form 2550Q (Quarterly VAT Return)

The 2550Q is the quarterly VAT return, and it's only as clean as the books behind it. Here's what goes into it and the records that must reconcile first so filing isn't a scramble.

8 min readRead

BIR XML Filing Guide for Philippine Workflows

XML is how the BIR receives your e-filed returns, while DAT files carry the summaries. Here's what XML filing is, how it's produced and validated, and why one set of books should feed every output.

9 min readRead

Withholding

QAP Guide for Philippine Withholding Tax Workflows

If you withhold tax on what you pay, the QAP is your quarterly list of who you withheld from. Here's what it is, how it ties to your 1601EQ-type remittance and your 2307s, and how clean books make it fall out as a DAT file.

9 min readRead

Withholding

What Is SAWT and When Do You Need It

If you earn income net of withholding, the SAWT is how you list your 2307s to claim those credits. Here's what it is, who files it, how it ties to your certificates, and how it goes in as a DAT file.

9 min readRead

Common SLSP DAT File Errors and How to Avoid Them

Your SLSP keeps bouncing at validation? The culprits are predictable: TIN format, name mismatches, totals that don't tie to the return, wrong period, encoding. Here's each one, why it happens, and the fix.

9 min readRead

VAT

What Is SLSP and Why VAT Businesses Need It

The SLSP is the per-customer, per-supplier detail behind your VAT return — submitted to the BIR as a DAT file. Here's what it must contain and how it should tie to your books.

8 min readRead

All Resources

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