The Cooperative Development Authority (CDA) has released Revenue Memorandum Circular  038-2025 clarifying the “requirement of submission of Taxpayer Identification Number (TIN) of cooperative members.”

The Circular reiterates that all members of the cooperative must possess valid TIN in compliance with Section 236 of the National Internal Revenue Code of 1997, Revenue Regulations No. 7-2012, and Revenue Memorandum Order No. 76-2010.

But the guidelines provide slack: “In case the cooperative fails to secure the TIN of all its members due to justifiable reasons, the cooperatives are given a period of nine (9) months to comply with the TIN requirement, but in no case shall it delay the processing and issuance by the concerned office of the BIR of the Certificate of Tax Exemption (CTE) of the cooperative.”

In consideration of the difficulties raised by the co-ops, the BIR increased the 6-month compliance period to 9 months. 

“Justifiable Reasons” were not listed by the memorandum.  The Memorandum merely says: “The justifiable reasons advanced shall be taken into account in formulating policies, rules and procedures to further improve taxpayers’ service and enhance the system of issuing TIN especially to individual taxpayers.”

While there are many documentary requirements that a co-op must submit to obtain its CTE, if the TIN requirement is the only non-compliance, a co-op may still be issued its CTE, “provided that a Sworn Affidavit . . . is submitted.”

The submission of the TIN of members is one of the requirements set by the Bureau of Internal Revenue for a co-op to be issued a Certificate of Tax Exemption (CTE) in compliance .  But this requirement has been a major challenge for many cooperatives because many co-op members either do not have a TIN, or even if they do, there has been no way for co-op staff to contact them and ask them for their TIN.

Failure to submit TIN of its members has serious implications for a cooperative’s sustainability: the co-op will have to pay tax. 

Despite the pleadings of co-op leaders in meetings with officials of the Bureau of Internal Revenue over the years, and lately on January 28 at the Senate with endorsement from Senator Win Gatchalian, and then another meeting at the BIR headquarters in Quezon City last March 18, the BIR has remained steadfast that cooperatives must submit the TIN of members to qualify for tax exemption.

For revocation of a co-op’s tax exemption, “No CTE shall be suspended/revoked and no application for CTE shall be denied solely on the basis of the non-submission of the TIN of its members until the availability of the enhanced Online Registration and Update System (ORUS) of the BIR is in place, provided that the Sworn Affidavit as required is submitted.”

A separate revenue issuance will be issued as soon as the enhanced ORUS is available and already in place.

In the eyes of many cooperative leaders, this TIN submission requirement imposed by the BIR is too difficult or even almost impossible to comply with, and thus, negates the tax exemption privileges of cooperatives as contained in Articles 60 and 61 of the Cooperative Code of 2008.