Republic Act No. 12079 otherwise known as “An Act Creating a VAT Refund Mechanism for Non-Resident Tourists, Adding a New Section 112-A to the National Internal Revenue Code of 1997, As Amended, for the Purpose”, mandates the Department of Finance to engage the services of a reputable, globally-recognized, and experienced VAT Refund Service Operator. The “VAT Refund System (VRS)” refers to a digital end-to-end system by which an eligible tourist can claim VAT refund for locally purchased goods.

The roles of accredited VRS operators are as follows:

• The VRS operator shall be responsible for the design, build, and overall operations of a fully digital end-to-end VRS, including:
• Issuing solutions for duly accredited stores;
• Digital tools for tourists availing of the VAT refund;
• Risk-based digital validation system;
• Processing systems including processing and payment of VAT refunds to payment cards and digital wallets;
• Reporting and intelligence tools;
• Hosting of systems and data by the VRS operator; and
• Product renewal, upgrades, and future improvements.
• The VRS operator shall implement a “traveller-pay model” where the cost of operating the VRS shall be funded by the service fee charged to the tourist and deducted from the VAT refund amount;
• The VRS operator shall accredit the stores, and provide training support, performance reporting, and marketing and promotions support as determined by the VRS operator based on the size of the store;
• The VRS operator shall pay the tourists upon complete validation of the claim, the appropriate VAT refund amount net of service fee, subject to the reimbursement procedure under the IRR;
• The VRS operator shall facilitate the VAT refund process for eligible tourists and provide them with information, digital tools, promotions, and assistance related to the VRS to encourage shopping and guiding the eligible tourists throughout the refund process;
• The VRS operator may coordinate and collaborate with the DOT for information dissemination and promotion of the VRS to tourists;
• The VRS operator shall ensure the information system security of the VRS;
• The VRS operator shall provide the DOF, BIR, and BOC, the appropriate validation system, hardware, capacity building, and technical support;
• The VRS operator shall act as an agent of tourists in relation to claims of VAT refund under R.A. No. 12079 with the BIR, and all other matters necessary or incidental thereto;
• The VRS operator shall provide BIR access to VRS information on transactions with duly accredited stores and actual refund claims, and such other documents or reports as may be required by the BIR for purposes of processing the reimbursement of VAT refunds for non-resident tourists;
• The VRS operator shall provide for measures to ensure continuity of operations in case the VRS should encounter technical issues or other extraordinary circumstances;
• The VRS operator shall be fully compliant with the requirements under R.A. No. 10173 otherwise known as the “Data Privacy Act”, particularly on the appointment of a Data Protection Officer and the registration of personal data processing systems with the National Privacy Commission; and
• The VRS operator shall provide, upon request by the Accreditation Committee, any and all information related to its function as authorized agent or service provider. The VRS operator shall likewise make available its assigned technical expert to testify on matters involving the processing of personal or confidential business information.

PRE-QUALIFICATION CRITERIA

A party intending to be accredited as a VRS operator, its parent company, or the latter’s subsidiaries, individually or collectively, must meet the following to be pre-qualified:

• Operates VAT refund services in at least twenty (20) countries, foreign economies, or administrative regions;
• Has operated VAT refund services for at least five (5) years;
• Operates or has operated digital end-to-end VAT refund services in at least two (2) geographical regions (APAC, EMEA, NA, LATAM);
• Must not have been blacklisted by the Philippine Government, or had its contract/license revoked by any country, foreign economy, or administrative region; and
• Must possess ISO/IEC 27001:2013 and ISO/IEC 9001:2015 Certifications, or equivalent international information security management and service management systems certifications.

CHECKLIST OF PRE-QUALIFICATION DOCUMENTS

The following documents must be submitted with equivalent tab (Annex):

	Documents		Annex
	Letter of Intent stating: 1. the party’s intention to participate in the VRS operator accreditation, and 2. if unincorporated, the party’s intention to organize a corporation or form a joint venture, and register the same under the laws of the Philippines:
	Individual attestations from competent authorities of countries, economies, and administrative regions with which existing contracts for VAT refund services are being implemented by the party (Note: The party may alternatively provide other competent proof of the existence of the contract for VAT refund services with said countries, economies, and administrative regions)		A
	Sworn Statement providing the following information: 1. Number of countries, economies, and administrative regions where VAT refund services are being operated (specifying the countries, economies, and administrative regions); 2. Number of geographic regions with existing contracts for provisions of digital end-to-end VAT refund systems (specifying the geographic regions); and 3. Years of experience operating VAT refund services		B
	Duly-attested matrix of completed, ongoing, and cancelled service contracts for the operation of a digital end-to-end VRS under a “traveller-pay” model, including the following information: 1. country, economy, and administrative region; 2. company operating (party, its parent, or subsidiary of parent); 3. brief description of VRS being implemented; 4. inclusive period; 5. status of service contract; 6. refunds granted, pending, and denied in absolute numbers and percentages; and 7. other remarks		C
	Statement under oath attesting that the applicant, its parent corporation, or the latter’s subsidiaries, or in the case of a joint venture, its co-venturers, are not listed in the GPPB Consolidated Blacklisting Report as blacklisted entities;		D
	Statement under oath attesting that the applicant, its parent corporation, or the latter’s subsidiaries, or in the case of a joint venture, its co-venturers, have not had their licenses or contracts revoked by any foreign jurisdiction;		E
	Certified copies of ISO/IEC 27001:2013 and ISO/IEC 9001:2015, or other equivalent international information security management and service management systems certifications;		F
	Certified true copies of the Audited Annual Financial Statements for the last three (3) taxable years of the party intending to be accredited or its parent company;		G
	Written declaration of any conflict of interest or potential risk on the part of the applicant that may affect the party’s services throughout the term of the contract; and		H
	Certification under oath that each of the documents submitted is an authentic and original copy, or a true and faithful reproduction of the original, complete, and that all statements and information provided therein are true and correct.		I

Please note: All documents obtained abroad must comply with the Apostille Convention and must also be certified by the appropriate and relevant Philippine Consular Office before they can be accepted by the VAT Refund Operator Accreditation Committee. All documents must also be scanned to a USB and be submitted together with pre-qualification requirements.

PRE-QUALIFICATION PROCEDURE

• The interested party shall submit its Letter of Intent together with the documentary requirements as stated in the Invitation.
• All requirements shall be personally delivered and submitted by the applicant VRS operator to the VAT Refund Operator Accreditation Committee Secretariat on or before 21 November 2025, 5:00 P.M. Late and incomplete submissions will not be accepted.
• Within seven (7) working days from the date of submission of the complete documentary requirements, the VAT Refund Operator Accreditation Committee shall determine whether the applicant is pre-qualified to apply for accreditation. If the applicant is not pre-qualified, the Accreditation Committee shall issue a written notice stating the reasons therefor.

Applicants are encouraged to submit their pre-qualification documents to the address below:

[SUBJECT] TO VAT REFUND OPERATOR ACCREDITATION COMMITTEE: PRE-QUALIFICATION APPLICATION AS VRS OPERATOR
REVENUE OPERATIONS GROUP
Department of Finance
DOF Bldg., BSP Complex, Roxas Blvd., Manila

We encourage the companies to submit the requirements according to the manner of listed documents.

The full text of the Department Order constituting the VRS Operator Accreditation

Guidelines can be accessed through the following link: https://drive.google.com/file/d/11i7KBb319SJqXo3l14hgP0Srz2_jGbsH/view

For more information on the VRS operator accreditation procedure, you may contact the VRS Accreditation Committee Secretariat through [email protected].

Thank you.