How to get your BIR Form 2316 from your previous employer

What BIR Form 2316 is, when your employer must give it to you, why a new employer asks for it, and when it counts as your tax return, from BIR's rules.

7 min read. Updated . By Catalyst Outsourcing.

BIR Form 2316 is the Certificate of Compensation Payment/Tax Withheld. It's your employer's record of what it paid you in a calendar year and the tax it took out. If you leave a job, BIR's rules say you get it on your last payday, and you hand a copy to your next employer if you change jobs within the year. Here's what's on it, when you get it, why a new employer wants it, and when it counts as your tax return, from BIR's own pages and regulations, read on 7 October 2026.

This guide quotes BIR's rules. It isn't tax advice, so check your own case with BIR or your employer's HR.

What BIR Form 2316 is

BIR's forms page describes the 2316 as a certificate "issued to each employee receiving salaries, wages and other forms or remuneration by each employer indicating therein the total amount paid and the taxes withheld therefrom during the calendar year." The current version on that page is dated September 2021.

The form has your details, your present employer's details, and a part for your previous employer if you had one that year. Then it has a summary of your taxable pay, the tax due and the tax withheld, and a breakdown of your pay. Your employer signs it, and you sign it too, under the penalties of perjury.

It comes from your employer. BIR's regulations, RR No. 11-2018, say the employer prepares it in three copies: the original for you, one for BIR, and one the employer keeps for 10 years.

When your employer has to give you a 2316

BIR's forms page gives two dates:

RR No. 11-2018 adds that employers issue a 2316 to minimum wage earners and to employees with no tax withheld, too. So a 2316 can show zero tax withheld.

Why your new employer asks for your 2316

RR No. 11-2018 has your new employer work out your tax for the whole calendar year, counting what earlier employers paid you and withheld. It also says an employee who moves to another employer during the year "shall furnish the concerned new employer a copy" of the 2316 from the previous employer. That copy should be "duly certified by the previous employer".

The form itself has a section for "Employer Information (Previous)", and the summary adds your "Taxable Compensation Income from Previous Employer" to the year's total. On our reading, without your old 2316, your new employer can't count your earlier income and tax for that year.

The rule covers moving jobs "during the taxable year". If you left your last job in an earlier year, ask your new employer what they want to see.

When your 2316 counts as your tax return

This is substituted filing. Under RR No. 11-2018, if you earned "purely compensation income" from "only one employer in the Philippines" for the year, and your employer withheld the right tax, you don't file your own annual income tax return, BIR Form 1700. Your employer's certified list of qualified employees, stamped "Received" by BIR, stands in for it.

The form's own declaration spells out what you're confirming when you sign: that you had purely compensation income from one employer, that "tax due equals tax withheld", and that the 2316 "shall serve the same purpose as if BIR Form No. 1700 has been filed".

The same regulation lists who doesn't qualify. Among them:

Changed jobs this year? The regulation's own words are compensation from two or more employers "concurrently or successively at any time during the taxable year", so you don't qualify that year. RR No. 11-2018 says employees who don't qualify get two copies of the 2316 to support the income tax return they file "on or before April 15 of the following year".

If you qualify, RR No. 11-2018 says you sign your 2316 right away to show you're using substituted filing. In RMC No. 29-2024, BIR says copies without the employee's signature "shall no longer be allowed, more particularly for those employees who are qualified for substituted filing."

How to get a copy of your BIR Form 2316

Ask the employer that paid you. If you've left, BIR's date for it is your last payday, so raise it with HR before you go and check your final pay documents.

You can ask HR for your certificate of employment at the same time. Our certificate of employment template has a request letter you can copy.

If your employer doesn't give it, RR No. 11-2018 says an employer's failure to furnish the certificate "shall be a ground for the mandatory audit" of its taxes "upon verified complaint". BIR's contact center is on (02) 8538-3200.

Need your copy stamped "Received" by BIR? RR No. 11-2018 says you ask the BIR office, with your employer's certification that you were on its list of employees qualified for substituted filing.

Next: the rest of your requirements

Your 2316 is one document on the list. Our checklist of pre-employment requirements covers the rest, and if you still don't have a TIN, start with how to get a TIN number online. When your papers are ready, find a remote day shift job. It's free to apply.

Questions

What is BIR Form 2316?

It's the Certificate of Compensation Payment/Tax Withheld: your employer's record of what it paid you in a calendar year and the tax it withheld. You sign it, and your employer signs it.

When will I get my 2316 after resigning?

BIR says on the same day as your last payment of wages. If you stay in a job, it's due on or before 31 January of the next year.

Why does my new employer need my 2316?

RR No. 11-2018 says an employee who changes employers during the year gives the new employer a copy of the 2316 from the previous one. The new employer adds that income to the year's total to get your tax right.

Do I need to file an income tax return if I have a 2316?

Not if you qualify for substituted filing: purely compensation income from one employer for the whole year, with the right tax withheld. If you had two employers that year, RR No. 11-2018 says you don't qualify, and you file a return by 15 April.

My old employer won't give me my 2316. What can I do?

Ask HR in writing first. RR No. 11-2018 says an employer's failure to give it is a ground for a mandatory audit upon verified complaint. BIR's contact center is on (02) 8538-3200.

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