How to fill out BIR Form 1701Q (8% and graduated rates)
BIR Form 1701Q is the quarterly income tax return of a freelancer, professional or small business owner. This guide is for you if you earn from your own business or practice and keep asking "which number goes in which box?" At the end you will know what each item on the 8% side and the graduated side asks for, and where your 2307 certificates go.
Who files, and who does not
The form's own guidelines say 1701Q is filed by a resident citizen engaged in trade, business or practice of a profession, and by resident aliens and non-resident citizens or aliens engaged in business in the Philippines, "regardless of amount of gross income". Two limits:
- Salary is not reported here. Compensation income goes only in the annual return (same guidelines). - Someone whose only income was taxed by final withholding, or who is exempt from income tax, does not file (same guidelines).
If you are a registered self-employed freelancer, with local or foreign clients, you file.
When: three times a year, not four
Quarter · Due on or before · Source; 1st (Jan to Mar) · May 15 · 1701Q guidelines; 2nd (Apr to Jun) · August 15 · same; 3rd (Jul to Sep) · November 15 · same
There is no 1701Q for the 4th quarter. The year is settled in the annual return, due on or before April 15 of the next year (Tax Code, section 51(C)). On the 8% rate or the optional standard deduction, that annual return is BIR Form 1701A; its header says so.
Late filing carries a 25% surcharge, interest and a compromise penalty (1701Q guidelines, "Penalties").
Where the 8% is chosen
On the form itself, in Item 16 (Tax Rate): graduated rates or 8%. The note at the bottom of the form says the choice is irrevocable for the taxable year. Under RR 8-2018, if you do not signify the 8% in your first-quarter return (or the initial quarter return of a new business), you are treated as on graduated rates. Whether 8% is open to you is in 8% or graduated?.
What to bring
- Your TIN, RDO code and registered address. - Your sales or receipts for the quarter, net of returns, allowances and discounts (the wording of Items 36 and 47). - Every BIR Form 2307 your clients gave you, and what you already paid on earlier 1701Qs this year.
Step by step
Fill the top once, then use only one of the two computation schedules. The form says: graduated, fill Items 36 to 46; 8%, fill Items 47 to 54. Open the 1701Q to follow along.
Part I, background (Items 1 to 16). Year, quarter, amended or not, TIN, RDO, filer type, ATC, name. The ATC on the form is the code for your rate: II015 (business) or II017 (profession) on 8%; II012 (business) or II014 (profession) on graduated rates. Item 16A, method of deduction, is for graduated rates only.
Part II, spouse. Only if the return covers your spouse's business too. Skip it otherwise.
Schedule II, the 8% rate (Items 47 to 54). Every quarter is cumulative: you add up from January, not from the start of the quarter.
Item · What it asks · Common slip; 47 · Sales/receipts for the quarter · Count every client and platform, not only those with a 2307; 48 · Non-operating income · Leave empty if you have none; 49 · Items 47 plus 48 · ; 50 · Item 51 of your previous quarter · In Q1 it is zero; 51 · Items 49 plus 50 · ; 52 · The P250,000 reduction · Taken once against the running total, not again each quarter; 53 · Item 51 less Item 52 · ; 54 · Item 53 times 8% ·
The P250,000 applies to individuals earning purely from self-employment or profession (RR 8-2018; Item 52 of the form says the same). If you also earn a salary, 8% runs on the full gross without the reduction (RMO 23-2018 digest).
So in Q1 you take P250,000 off your Q1 total. In Q2, Item 50 brings the Q1 figure forward and Item 52 is still P250,000, taken off the running total. You do not get a new P250,000 each quarter, and you do not carry "what is left" by hand.
Schedule I, graduated rates (Items 36 to 46). Item 36 is sales or receipts. Item 37 is cost of sales, only if you itemize. Item 38 is gross income. Then Item 39 (itemized deductions) or Item 40 (optional standard deduction, 40% of Item 36). Item 41 is net income this quarter; Item 42 adds the previous quarter's taxable income; Item 43 non-operating income; Item 45 is the total to date. Item 46 applies the tax table on page 2 (Table 2 is for 2023 onwards).
Schedule III, credits (Items 55 to 62). This is where numbers most often land in the wrong box:
- Item 55: excess credits carried over from last year's return. - Item 56: tax you paid on your earlier quarterly returns this year. - Item 57: tax withheld, per 2307s you already claimed in earlier quarters. - Item 58: tax withheld, per 2307s for this quarter.
The 2307 is a required attachment "if applicable", and so is the SAWT (1701Q guidelines, "Required Attachments").
Schedule IV and Part III. Items 64 to 67 are penalties (blank if you are on time). Item 63 is tax due less credits; Item 68 adds the penalties. Part IV records how you paid. PDFPhile fills the form for you; you file and pay with BIR, and your RDO can tell you which channel applies to you.
Mistakes that send the return back
- The same 2307 twice. A 2307 claimed in Item 58 for Q1 belongs in Item 57 from Q2 on. Counting it in both is a double credit. - Subtracting P250,000 every quarter. It comes off the running total once. - Filling both schedules. One rate, one schedule. - Item 8 and Item 16 that disagree. The ATC and the tax-rate box must tell the same story. - Leaving out a client with no 2307. Foreign and online clients often issue none, but the pay still goes in Item 47. - Filing a 4th-quarter 1701Q. There is none; the year ends in the annual return.
Questions
Saan ko ilalagay ang natira kong P250,000 mula Q1?
Nowhere by hand. Item 50 carries your cumulative figure forward and Item 52 takes P250,000 once off that running total.
Do I file 1701Q if I earned nothing this quarter?
The guidelines say the return is filed by the taxpayers described above "regardless of amount of gross income". Ask your RDO if you are unsure about a zero quarter.
Can I use a 2307 I got after the quarter ended?
The form has separate lines for 2307s "for this quarter" (Item 58) and "for the previous quarter/s" (Item 57). Which one fits a late certificate is a judgement for your RDO or a CPA.
Where do 2307s from earlier quarters go?
Item 57. Tax you paid with earlier quarterly returns goes in Item 56.
Last checked 2026-10-12. Not affiliated with BIR, SSS, PhilHealth, Pag-IBIG or any government agency.