THE Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) said that they are sticking to their 90-day transitory period as it gave an e-marketplace operators and digital service providers time in order to comply with their new form of withholding tax system for online sellers.

They said that this is despite the appeal of several digital finance service providers that they be given more time to update their operating systems.

This is so that they can implement the regulation as seamlessly as possible.

Under the BIR’s guidelines, the e-marketplace operator or digital service provider will be tasked to deduct the 1-percent withholding tax on sales made by online merchants.

According to Lito Villanueva, the founding chairman of Fintech Alliance.Ph, his members have asked for at least 180 days to make the necessary adjustments.

“Digital operations require meticulous review of the operating system and this includes identifying and mapping all necessary system changes from technology build to testing, ensuring deployments with minimal impact to customers because, otherwise, it will be done manually,” Villanueva said.

“Second, existing agreements with merchants and partners need to be revised to align with regulatory prescriptions,” he added.