Where to pay Donor's Tax?

Here's something I discovered about Donor's Tax recently. Let's see how well you know the law.

The law states that the Donor's Tax should be filed "with the Revenue District Office having jurisdiction over the PLACE OF DOMICILE of the donor at the time of the donation..."

The Donor is registered in RDO-38 (North Quezon City);

The Donor's house is located in RDO-40 (Cubao);

So, where should the tax be filed?

Does "Place of Domicile" refer to where the donor is registered or where his registered house is located?

Why is this important?

Filing the donor's tax return in the wrong RDO is tantamount to non-filing. In other words, the donor will be penalized 25% surcharge and 20% annual interest if they pay the wrong RDO!

Okay, so here's the answer to the question of what the BIR means by "Place of Domicile."

It's RDO-38 (North Quezon City), where the DONOR is registered, NOT THE RDO THAT COVERS WHERE HIS PROPERTY IS LOCATED.

Take note that the donor's tax is not for an RE property but for shares of stock. I'm not sure if this makes a difference.

I would have answered where he lived. So, it would have been a very costly mistake for me.

The lesson here is this: when in doubt, ASK. And when you don't completely trust the person you're asking, ask two unrelated people.

In our case, we asked examiners from both the RDOs.

Furthermore, make sure you pay the taxes way before the deadline so that if in case the RDO suddenly says you should have paid the other RDO, you have ample time to transfer the payment you've already made to the correct RDO.