Question & AnswerQ&A (COA CIRCULAR NO. 2013-007)
The purpose of COA Circular No. 2013-007 is to provide guidelines on the issuance and use of electronic official receipts (eORs) as acceptable evidence of payment for the collection of income and other government receipts through electronic collection systems.
An eOR is a proof of payment generated or issued through an Electronic Payment and Collection System (EPCS) with unique or sequential reference numbers that can be validated within the system, serving as evidence of payment for collections received by a government agency from clients via electronic collection systems.
Republic Act No. 8792, also known as the Electronic Commerce Act of 2000, provides the legal basis for the recognition, legal effect, validity, and enforceability of electronic documents as evidence of payment.
The electronic document must maintain its integrity and reliability, be complete and unaltered except for authorized or usual changes, and must be capable of authentication and usable for subsequent reference. Additionally, it must have reliable assurance as to its integrity from the time it was generated and be capable of being displayed to the person to whom it is presented.
The scope covers all collections of income and other government receipts acknowledged by government agencies through electronic payments, which must be evidenced by the issuance of eORs with specific minimum data content.
The minimum data content includes: name of issuing agency, location and location code, name of payor, date and time of receipt, nature of collection, amount received detailed by revenue classification, eOR number, transaction number, mode of payment, and order of payment slip number or assessment number.
National government agencies must deposit collections to the account of the Treasurer of the Philippines, while local government units and Government Owned and Controlled Corporations (GOCCs) must deposit collections to their respective accounts in designated Authorized Government Depository Banks (AGDBs).
Government agencies must comply with the provisions of the Joint Department Administrative Order No. 02 s. 2006 issued by the Department of Finance and the Department of Trade and Industry, which sets the guidelines implementing RA No. 8792 on Electronic Payment and Collection Systems (EPCS) in government.
Government agencies must provide read, view, and print access rights to COA auditors in the computerized systems where online collections are processed to ensure transparency and auditability.