12/15/2011

Official Receipt versus Acknowledgement Receipt in Leasing

QUESTION: Sir John, can you tell us when to issue and when not to issue Official Receipt?

ANSWER: There are two kinds of receipts. One is Official Receipt, and the other is Acknowledgement Receipt. Official Receipt is for BIR purposes. If your client pays you your earnings such as Professional Fee, Service Fee, or Commission, you use the Official Receipt.

On the other hand, Acknowledgement Receipt is for Non-BIR purposes, it is just a paper trail of the movement of paper, thing, offer, notice, information, or money or whatever anything that exists na pinasa sayo. When anyone gives you a document, or money on fiduciary account, you use Acknowledgement Receipt. Acknowledgement Receipt can be a rubber stamp on the document or just your simple hand-writing on a piece of paper that you give to the one who gives you the document or money as a proof that you received something.

xxxxx

QUESTION: Sir John, I am property manager of a house and lot. It is being leased now to a tenant. Should I issue Official Receipt to the lease payments?

ANSWER: You only issue Official Receipt to lease payments if it is a SUB-LEASE case. A Sub-Lease is when the owner of the property leases the property to you and you in turn sub-lease it to someone else for profit. If it is a sub-lease, you issue Official Receipt.

On the other hand, a simple Property Management is not a sub-lease case. All payments of the tenant merely may only pass through you, but not paid to you because the payment is for the property owner. In this case, you issue Acknowledgement Receipt to the tenant, and you make sure that you have documents to prove that the payment is received by the owner of the property. In Property Management, it is the owner of the property who is obliged to issue Official Receipt, kapag wala siyang Official Receipt, problema nya yan.

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Of course the Acknowledgement Receipt can be monitored by anyone, including client, customers, BIR, or literally anyone. My point is, DO NOT USE OFFICIAL RECEIPT if the payment is not for your earnings, otherwise mabulabog ang accounting mo nyan.

You don't put lease payments under CASH. The payment is not for you, you are just a collector, you hand it over to the owner or deposit it on his bank account within the prescribed period specified by the owner. If this is too complex for you to understand, then tell the tenant to pay directly to the bank account of the Owner.

Lets say ang Lease ay P50,000. Ang commission mo P5,000. Pag mag-bayad ang Tenant sa bank account ng Owner P50,000. You bill the Owner the P5,000, bigyan mo Official Receipt ang Owner. Remember, ang client mo, ang magbabayad ng services mo, ang Owner, hindi ang Tenant.

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PILFERAGE is when Tenant pays P50,000 at ikaw ang binigyan ng pera, tapos binulsa mo ang P5,000 commission mo at ang dineposit mo sa banko ng Owner ay P45,000 lang. Pag ganyan ang arrangement ninyo ng Owner, ang tawag dyan ay Pilferage with Consent. Magulo yang Pilferage kasi ang Acknowldgement Receipt na makukuha mo sa Banko sa dineposit mo ay P45,000 lang so pag binigay mo yang A/R na P45,000 lang sa Tenant magkaka-problema ka nyan.

48 comments:

Cai said...

Hi Just want to ask if I can just issue a Provisional receipt instead of Acknowledgement Receipt when receiving a collection for reimbursable expenses such as water bill,Transfer cost and the like.?
thanks. Im quite confused with the use of PR and AR which I believe are both valid proof of collection ryt? please enlighten me. thanks thanks =)

Rltr. John R. Petalcorin said...

You issue Provisional Receipt only (1) if it is a case of a SALE of your product or service and (2) if you have no Official Receipt Available.

If it is not a SALE of your commercial product and service, let's say you are given money to act as errand in paying utility bills, then you just issue Acknowledgement Receipt right away and give the Official Receipt back to the payor later on after you paid the utility bill.

portratits said...

hi just want to know what to do? i have an online shop for my caricatures and i have this BIG Cient (company) who orders a large volume of caricatures from me.and now they are asking for an official receipt.But i dont have an OR yet what do i do or what do i tell them?

Rltr. John R. Petalcorin said...

Caricatures are artforms that can be considered as part of classification of Estate Properties. You can always register your Caricature Services and get your own official receipts. But you can also explore the possibility of dealing with a company in order to use the official receipt of a company who sells artforms. I think my company can sell artform.

angel said...

Hi! What kind of receipt should I issue to clients who are given free products? Should I use our VAT invoice with the price amount Php 0.00? We have only have "Invoice" and "Official Receipt" that is registered with BIR. Thanks!

Anonymous said...

Hi,

I would like to ask if provisional receipt is considered as official receipt? I am a tenant and the owner (or group of owners) just gave me a provisional receipt and it's almost end of my contract.. Many thanks

Rltr. John R. Petalcorin said...

Mel, provisional receipt is used if at the time of the payment the Official Receipt is not accessible. Example: you visited the house if the owner and paid rent. He has no Official Receipt (OR) in his house because the OR is in the office (far). So he will temporarily issue you a provisional receipt. The Owner is supposed to issue the OR for tenant's rent payments.

Anonymous said...

Hi,

I Just want to ask kung VAT lang po ba ang charges pag nag issue ng official receipt for the payment of our tenant?

Thank you

Rltr. John R. Petalcorin said...

The Tenant pays rent to the owner of the property, not to the Broker. Depende na yan kung VAT-Registered ang Owner or hindi. Hindi na yan scope ng trabaho ng Broker ang Tax duties ng Property Owner sa mga income na na-receive ni Owner from leasing. It is the duty of the government to educate Real Estate Owners on lease taxes -- it's not the Broker's duty.

Anonymous said...

We have a travel agency. Can we issue collection receipts in replacement of the official receipt for the total amount issued by our corporate clients and then we will just issue an official receipt for with transaction fee?

Will our corporate clients accept the collection receipt to serve as OR?

Rltr. John R. Petalcorin said...

Try asking your corporate clients if they will accept.

Anonymous said...

Hello,

I mistakenly ordered 200 notebooks from a supplier and paid for it. Recently I was able to sell it to a trading company. Now they're asking for an invoice. I don't have business. What form can I issue them?

Anonymous said...

Hello,

Sorry not sure if my comment went through awhile ago.I'd like to ask what form shall I give to a company who bought notebooks from me. These notebooks i bought mistakenly and so I resold to them. Thanks for your advise in advance.

Rltr. John R. Petalcorin said...

If it is a "notebook", I wouldn't know. Try asking the BIR.

Anonymous said...

Hi this is Ms. Dizon, nag rerent ako sa commercial space ng 6k. I was not able to finish the contract and we had some agruements. Now, I was asking the owner to issue me official receipt and not acknowledge receipt for the past month I have rented. Is that still possible?

Can the BIR run after them?
thanks


loveabear@gmail.com

Anonymous said...

Hi there. pls help me with my concern. i will be renting a space owned by an owner with a hardware and sole proprietor. question..can he issue his hardware official receipt for my rental payment?

Rltr. John R. Petalcorin said...

Yes he can.

Anonymous said...

Hi,
Question po. Kasi kumuha ako ng lot sa OPMC which they say they are Marketing arm
(subsidiary) of Sta Lucia.
Yong reservation ko November 2012. I received my OR mga March 2013.
Then yong monthly payment ako for DP since December 2012 til August 2013, pero until now puro provisional receipt pa lang ang meron ako. wala pa ng Official Receipt. Dapat ba ko kabahan dito? Safe ba kahit provisional receipt lng since "kilalang" company naman sila? Kinakabahan po kasi ako, kasi ito na nga sana ang pinaka-savings/investment ko. Sana po maliwanagan nyo ako dito. Maraming salamat.

Anonymous said...

Hi,
Question po. Kasi kumuha ako ng lot sa OPMC which they say they are Marketing arm
(subsidiary) of Sta Lucia.
Yong reservation ko November 2012. I received my OR mga March 2013.
Then yong monthly payment ako for DP since December 2012 til August 2013, pero until now puro provisional receipt pa lang ang meron ako. wala pa ng Official Receipt. Dapat ba ko kabahan dito? Safe ba kahit provisional receipt lng since "kilalang" company naman sila? Kinakabahan po kasi ako, kasi ito na nga sana ang pinaka-savings/investment ko. Sana po maliwanagan nyo ako dito. Maraming salamat.

Rltr. John R. Petalcorin said...

Tantsa ko nasa abroad ka. Pag bayad mo sa OPMC ang ini-issue nila sayo ay Provisional Receipt. Pag remit nila ng payament mo sa Sta Lucia ang ini-issue ng Sta Lusia at Official Receipt. Ang tanong ko lang ay, kanino naka pangalan ang Official Receipt? Yan ang alamin mo.

Anonymous said...

hi, i am leasing an apartment and a space for rent, however the tenant starting to ask an official receipt. Is there any exemption about the official receipt? I only give them acknowledgement receipt that i receive their monthly rental. can they file a case against me? or report me to BIR or DTI?

Rltr. John R. Petalcorin said...

I cannot speak in behalf of government. Try mo punta sa government at magtanong sa kanila.

jaypee said...

Good day Sir,

I just wanna ask if the acknowledgement receipt is considered as an official receipt?

Thanks,

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Anonymous said...

Hi sir pwede ba ako mag issue ng official reciept na ibang date sa natangap kng date na money?

Rltr. John R. Petalcorin said...

I'm not sure, plase ask the BIR. Baka pwede basta ma justify mo kung bakit. Maaring natanggap mo na ang pera pero hindi pa kumpleto ang information or requirement para ma perfect ang transaction. So, pag ma completo na ang requirement, saka mo na resibo.

Gilbert said...

Sir, sorry if this is the wrong area to ask this question. Im leasing a space from 2010-2014. From the original offer contract to me, its indicated 10k rent, 2k dues, so its 12k per month. And they made a contract after a few weeks, 12k exclusive, Ive ask them before bakit ganun, they said papalitan na lang nila and its just formality naman. SO for 4 year i dont pay dues, and now na aalis na ako, the building admin is asking for the dues with penalties. But 2010-2012 the dues are payed, surely not by me. so 2012-2014 ung kailangan bayaran. Im trying to contest them, do i have the rights? They also dont issue OR, is that something I can use as well? thanks much

Rltr. John R. Petalcorin said...

Hi Gilbert! Thank you for your inquiry. First of all, I did publish somewhere in this blog site that the rent rate should ALWAYS exclude the association dues and other utilities as these are consumables that must be paid by the tenant separately. Secondly, if it was clear in your verbal agreement that the rent of 12,000 already includes the Association Due, then simply tell it to the Association that you have paid rents in full including the Association Dues to the owner of the property -- and that it is the obligation of the owner to pay the association dues including arrears. If there should be further dispute, then go to the Barangay and complain as an aggrieved party against the harassment by the the owner and the Association.

Gilbert said...

Thanks chief, God bless

Anonymous said...

hi po. what does it mean when the developers guidelines say "the validity of the of the Official Receipt is 24 hours after printing?" The developer only gave us an acknowledgement receipt for the reservation fee for real property purchase and we are planning to withdraw the purchase for so many important reasons. Can we hold it against them regarding their policy of "reservation fee is not refundable" wherein the developer haven't provided the offivial receipt yet? thank you so much and God bless!

Rltr. John R. Petalcorin said...

Reservation fee is non-refundable, with or without acknowledgement receipt or official receipt. It is the thing that you pay to freeze the selling period for a certain period. The seller losses the chance of capturing another serious buyer during the reservation period.

Anonymous said...

Sublessee po ako pero walang maibigay na offcial receipt ung sublessor ko. Ang binigay lng ay acknowledgement form. Pwede ko ba silang ireklamo sa BIR?

Allen said...

Hi John! I am living in a medium-end subdivision where our payments for water and supposedly monthly dues have been issued with provisional receipt only (from the time I transferred in November 2012 to current date). The developer has not issued any official receipt. Is it a legal practice? Do I have to bring to the attention of the BIR if and when the developer would not issue O.R. even if I requested for it?

I remember that there were cases in the past that provisional receipts were not honored (thus voiding any payment made) because there were no O.R. issued.

Please enlighten. Thank you.

Rltr. John R. Petalcorin said...

Depende. Kung internal arrangement ng SubDivision Homeowners Association ang water distribution ninyo, walang O.R. yan, either provisionary receipt lang yan or pirma lang sa listahan ng homeowners. Kung direct kayo sa water seller, which is either Maynilad or manila water in Metro Manila, dapat may Official Receipt ng utility provider.

Shintetsu said...

Hey John. I, the lessee, am having issues with rent payments, and late fees stipulated outside of the contract.

1. I resubmitted my copy of the signed contract to the lessor months ago to have it signed so I can notarize the document, as stated by law it is my duty to pay for it. The contract I signed has not yet been returned by the lessor with their signature.
2. The lessor has not issued acknowledgement or official receipts for all of the rent payments I have made so far for the past year.
3. There is a late fee stipulated outside of the contract currently being enforced by the lessor. Apparently, the late fee duplicates itself for every month of rent that is late (30/day per month of rent unpaid, with two months you essentially get 60/day, three months 90/day...) On top of this fact, every payment I make to the lessor has been deducted from the penalty FIRST as opposed to the rent payment first, meaning every payment I make per cutoff gets dinged by penalties BEFORE it makes it to rent payments, which has always been my intention all along. This is reflected by the payment calculation the lessor has provided simply written on a piece of paper which does not explicitly show the date and the amount of the payments I have made against their calculation of current amount due, making them just fee projections instead of receipts.

To my understanding, the late fee I was incurring is a constant 30/day as long as I had back pay in rent. On top of this I explicitly made known (and as is common practice is in this area) that the payments I make every 15 days is supposed to be for rent, NOT penalties.

The lessor has provided a calculation stating that I still owe an amount equivalent to the money I have paid since two months ago, and the amount they have provided is already for 4 months of rent (Law states that you can be issued a notice to pay or leave come the third month of non-payment)

Provided these facts, what are my legal options? Upon discussion of what I intended and provided these facts the lessor has threatened legal action starting with the barangay. I appreciate your advice in this matter. I'll check back every day for updates and have left my email in my name for this post in case you need to get in touch. Thank you very much.

Chris ng Munti said...

Hi John,

I just want to ask for help on this please. I'm renting a house in a subdivision. Here's the scenario:

1. No contract agreement
2. Been here from October 2013 - Present
3. Only Acknowledgement reciept has been issued for the past 2 years

We had an argument lately about fixing the pozo negro kasi punong puno na and everything is clogged.

The owner's reason is sometime next year this house will be demolished and will soon be an apartment.

Since she's giving me a hard time, I want to ask kung pwede ba akong gumawa ng Legal action against the owner for issuing Acknowledgement receipt instead of Official Receipt?

or to make it simplier...

Dapat ba kung ako ang property owner kelangan Official Receipt ang kelangan ko ibigay sa nagrrent ng house ko and NOT acknowledgement receipt only?

Thank you for your help in advance.

Rltr. John R. Petalcorin said...

Pozo negro ang problema mo, hindi ang resibo. Pag hindi inayos, leave and find a new place to rent.

Unknown said...

Sir John may katanungan po ako regarding OR issue. I want to seek an advice.

Nag-issue ako ng post dated checks sa developer na good for one year. Ito ay para sa monthly amortization. Alam ko naman na responsibilidad kong kunin ang OR sa tuwing matatapos ang scheduled date na inilagay ko sa check. Kaso naisip ko na kesa buwan-buwan akong pumunta sa main office ni developer, which is sobrang layo from my house, napagdesisyunan ko na kunin na lang kapag natapos na ang lahat ng dates na nasa PDC's. Nagdaan ang anim na buwan at balak ko ng ipahinto ang pagbabayad sa property ko. Nagkaroon ako ng financial problem. Hindi ko na kayang bayaran pa ang natitirang anim na buwan. Ngayon, pumunta ako sa main office ni developer para kunin ang 6 PDC's para dun sa nagdaan na anim na buwan na binayaran ko. Kasabay nito ay ang pagbibigay ko ng Letter of Property Cancellation. Sabi ng representative ni developer ay sa kanila daw ang original copy ng OR since nagcancel na kami ng contract for the property. Nagtaka ako dahil hindi tama un. Ang original na copy ng OR ay dapat mapunta sa buyer since un ang proof ng pagbabayad ko. Kung halimbawang gusto man nila ng copy para sa kanila, sigurado ako na may iba't ibang copies ang OR na un na designated for different departments. Hindi ako pumayag na hindi un ibigay sa akin. Nang ibinigay na sa akin un, sinabi ulit ng representative na kelangan ko raw ibalik un. Umoo lang ako pero sa katunayan hindi ko un ibabalik. Plano ko po na magbigay ng sulat sa kanila about sa right ko to have the original copy of OR's. Tanong ko lang po. Meron ba tayong batas regarding this? Please pakitulungan po ako.

Rltr. John R. Petalcorin said...

(1) Borrow the original receipts, (2) Photocopy the original receipts, (3) make them sign an appended note on the photocopy that they received the original, make sure that the name, designation, signature and date is readable, and (4) return the original to them as requested. This way, you are both happy.

Unknown said...

Sir John, good day. Is notarized acknowledgement receipt acceptable for BIR purposes based on the notarial services rendered to us? But actually, BIR asked me to submit Official receipt. Please help me to avoid any delay in our part. Thank you very much.

Anonymous said...

Good day! Kumuha po kasi ako ng Offer to purchase of a House and Lot sa isang subdivision this February. I am paying now the Equity, for every month payments I made they issue Acknowledgement Receipt instead of Official Receipt. Ngdedemand po ako nang Official Receipt, but they told me they only issue it once Fully paid na ang Buyer wherein itratransfer na din ang title at Constructed na ang house. Hindi po ba ako mgkakaroon ng problema sa Acknowledgement Receipt? Many Thanks

Rltr. John R. Petalcorin said...

In my opinion, kahit installment, kailangan may Official Receipt tuwing magbabayad.

Unknown said...

Hello. Good evening. Our lawyer did not issue an official receipt for every legal service rendered. IS this legal? We are planning to file a complaint letter to the BIR since he failed to give proper attention to the case. He's unable to provide communication regarding the case.

Anonymous said...

Good Day Sir!
an office mate of mine leased her personal condo unit, and the tenant wants to ask for an OR. is it applicable? and what should my office mate do regarding the requirements?

Rltr. John R. Petalcorin said...

It is best to ask the BIR if the complete information of the leasing case at hand needs official receipt.

Unknown said...

sir good morning i have a problem i leased a commercial space have given them 1mnth adv. and 2 dep. but he never gave me any receipts and now we know he was only sub lease it to us and tge real owner arrive asking why we sub lease on him by the way the one we talk said that ihe owns the place is it swindling n can we recover our money

Rltr. John R. Petalcorin said...

Baka magka-kontsaba yang dalawa. Get their respective names, address, and contact number of the two. Go to the Barangay Chairman and file a complain. I have known a similar case like that few years ago wherein the owner and sub-lessor are collaborating a conspiracy of confusing information to swindle, disenfranchise, and victimize a good sub-lessee.

Dr lim said...

Gud pm, I am a doctor and I plan to lease to a company my condo unit. The company requires an OR but i only have OR for my professional fee and not for rental fee for the condo. Can I use the OR for my professional fee instead to give to the company for leasing? -Dr Lim