BIR Suspends Mandatory Display of Registration Seal Badge Until Further Notice

The Bureau of Internal Revenue has suspended the mandatory display of the BIR Registration Seal Badge until further notice, shelving a requirement that online sellers, freelancers, and content creators were supposed to meet before the end of the month.

Revenue Memorandum Circular No. 113-2026, dated October 26, 2026 and signed by Commissioner Charlito Martin R. Mendoza, states that the mandatory display prescribed under RMC No. 38-2026, as supplemented by RMC Nos. 64-2026 and 99-2026, “is hereby suspended until further notice.”

What the BIR Registration Seal Badge circular says

The suspension is not a scrapping of the badge itself. The circular lays out three points of relief for covered taxpayers, and the second and third matter most in practice.

Taxpayers who already secured their BIR Registration Seal Badge may keep displaying it on their websites, online shops, and business social media pages, at their own option. Nothing forces them to take it down, and nothing obliges anyone else to put one up.

More importantly, no penalties shall be imposed solely on account of non-display of the badge during the period of suspension. That closes the exposure that made the October 31 deadline such a sore point for small online businesses, which had one month to secure a badge and figure out where to post it.

How the requirement got here

The badge was introduced to solve a real privacy problem. Previous rules required covered taxpayers to post their full Certificate of Registration on their online platforms, which meant publishing an entire document just to prove a business was registered. The badge was meant to replace that with a QR code that customers and prospective clients could scan to verify registration, leaving the full certificate off the page.

It did not land the way the agency expected. Sellers and creators raised concerns that the QR code could disclose personal information, up to and including full legal names. Senator Bam Aquino called for a temporary suspension, and Senator Pia Cayetano took the matter to the National Privacy Commission.

The numbers show how far the rollout had reached before the brakes came on. As of October 14, more than 52,700 certificates of registration carrying the badge had been secured by online sellers, service providers, and content creators, according to the BIR. RMC 99-2026 had already moved the compliance deadline to October 31.

What it means for online sellers and creators

Practically, the pressure is off. If you have not secured a badge yet, you will not be penalized for failing to display one while the suspension stands. If you already have it up, you can leave it where it is.

The verification purpose of the badge survives the suspension. Consumers can still scan a displayed badge to confirm a seller is registered. What has changed is that displaying one is no longer a condition of doing business online without penalty.

The circular is silent on how long the suspension will last, saying only that it holds until further notice. The agency has previously said it is working with the National Privacy Commission on safeguards for the verification system, and the wording of RMC 113-2026, which frames the move as being for the orderly implementation of those initiatives, suggests the badge returns in some revised form rather than disappearing.

We reported earlier today that senators were pressing the BIR to pause the requirement. This circular is the agency answering them.