DIY: Transferring Land Title, Part 1: BIR

 So you bought a residential lot and would like to transfer the title to your name.

How?

To simplify, there are 2 steps in doing so:

1. Get an eCAR from BIR.

2. Submit the required docs and eCAR to the Registry of Deeds, and wait for their notification via SMS that you're title has been transferred and is ready for pick up.

Simple, right?

But TIME CONSUMING (because of the queues). 😮‍💨

Nonetheless, since we're doing it ourselves with the residential lot we have acquired, I'll share with you our experience.

This is actually our second time transferring a title to ourselves.

First one was in March 2025, and we got the title in June 2025.

That was easy peasy because the seller was my husband's uncle (my mom-in-law's brother) so we got everything we need with uncle and MIL's help.

But this time, we bought a residential lot from a subdivision and we don't really know the people we were transacting with well, so it's kind of tricky.

I'll summarize at the end of this post the required docs we prepared for getting the eCAR, so you can scroll down if you're not interested with the details.

But if you'd like to continue on reading to know more and avoid some of our mistakes from happening to you, thank you, I truly appreciate it. ☺️

The seller was a 70+ year-old man, and he's very impatient because the reason he's selling it is because he and his wife is separating so they'd like to cash out the land, but we did our due diligence first before we commit.

We ordered the Certified True Copy of the lot we're intending to buy.

You can see my previous post on how I ordered it from LRA online.

I ordered it online because when the seller tried to get it from the Registry of Deeds Lingayen, he was told that the title was already being transferred to the Urdaneta branch, so he was given a queue# (I think he was 52nd on the list) as to when he will get the CTC from Urdaneta.

We don't know when that will happen so I ordered it myself online and received it within a week.

It is one of the requirements of eCAR anyway, so it will come in handy when I already have it and we're able to check if the title is really under the seller's name and his spouse, and if there are any encumbrances listed at the back of the CTC (fortunately, there's none).

So, 1. Certified True Copy of Land title. Done ✅️

When we finalized the transaction, we appreciate the presence of the person in charge of the subdivision.

I'm actually not sure of his position, but he's been working with the real estate developer and in the subdivision's clubhouse since the 90s, and we discovered the lot being sold by the owner because of him, so he was like the mediator between us and the seller since the beginning of this transaction.

Because of his years of experience with this, he's the one who prepared the Deed of Sale and Acknowledgement receipt (5 copies each, if I remember correctly).

Of course we had it proofread, to be sure.

We did the transaction within the subdivision's clubhouse (his office), so everything went well.

Since the seller is not in good terms with his wife, the wife had her sibling represent her (with Special Power of Attorney).

During this transaction, these are the documents we got:

✅️2. TINs of both spouses (which became a headache for us later on because they gave us both the TINs wrong 🤦‍♀️I'll tell you as we go along how we resolved it when we were in BIR).

✅️3. Signed and notarized Deed of Sale, as well as the signed Acknowledgement Receipt (AR is not a requirement for transferring, but this is for our own records of the sellers acknowledging receipt of our payment).

✅️4. Latest Tax declaration (the seller gave this to us).

✅️5. Original title

✅️6. Photocopies of the sellers' IDs (the man, his wife, and her SPA) and buyers (us) with 3 signatures. To be clear, your ID's photocopy should be signed by you 3 times. And they also need to sign their respective photocopy IDs 3 times.

✅️7. Special Power of Attorney of the wife's sister

 Alright, now come the processing of the docs with the BIR.

We queued on November 18 past 4pm.

I was pretty confident that we just have to submit the docs we have because I've ticked everything that was needed as per the BIR checklist we used last March 2025.

But to my surprise, they now have an additional requirement, which is the seller's PSA-certified marriage certificate, if the seller is married. 😦

We didn't even get to the counter for this, because they were already hurrying up to call it a day so a man went out of the booth and went to us to ask what our transaction is.

He checked our docs and then he gave us the new checklist, saying we're lacking the PSA-certified marriage certificate of the seller...

I asked when was this new checklist issued.

"2024", he answered.

I told him we processed a different title just this March 2025 and showed him the checklist this same BIR branch gave to us, no marriage cert required.

I tried my luck and asked if we could submit the docs we already have just to get the ball rolling because it takes 3 business days to get the Approved ONETT computation sheet, then we'll submit the marriage cert when we come back for the release of the computation sheet.

But he reasoned out, blah blah, about audit blah blah.

So in short, we have no choice but to comply.

So we left, none accomplished.

Oh, but he also gave us the zonal value per sqm of the subdivision's lot we acquired, so we at least now know about how much we will need to pay for capital gains tax and documentary stamp tax.

We prepared an authorization letter the next day so that the seller can just sign and let us get their marriage cert from the PSA ourselves (less hassle to the old man).

Good thing the seller is also residing nearby our house, so my hubby went to him on the morning of November 20 to ask to sign the authorization letter, and also give us the details such as the date and place where they got married.

He obliged.

But when we got to PSA Rosales, hubby learned that the old man gave him the wrong details!

Both the place and date he provided were wrong. 😒

Fortunately, hubby was still able to get the marriage cert, while I was waiting inside the car, working.

It just took him about 30 minutes or so.

After we had our lunch, we went straight to BIR to queue.

They were serving #45 when we arrived.

I forgot to photocopy the required docs so I asked my husband to do so while waiting.

Our number got called while he was out, but I went ahead anyway with the checklist that the previous BIR guy reviewed & ticked and gave it to the lady in Counter 8.

While waiting for the photocopies, she took the TINs I noted so she can verify in the system.

Here was the problem.

The old man's TIN on the note was wrong.

But at least, the lady found the correct number in their system for him and corrected my note.

However, for his wife, the TIN appeared to be someone else's.

She tried searching even using the wife's maiden name, but she couldn't find it.

When hubby arrived with the photocopies, the lady reviewed it while hubby was contacting the person in charge of the subdivision.

Another nuisance that the lady said is that the photocopies must be 2x for all the docs.

I reiterated that in the checklist, only the deedof sale requires 2 photocopies while the rest needs just one each.

But the BIR lady insisted so what else can we do? 🤷‍♀️

I just told her to update their checklist, and she noted.

Back to the TIN, hubby confirmed that the old man's wife didn't actually have a TIN!!! 🤦‍♀️

It is one of the requirements and we cannot proceed unless we get her a TIN..

The BIR lady gave us 2 options:

1. The fastest route: get the old man's wife's SPA to fill up the BIR TIN registration form and submit it today, so that the BIR lady can enter it immediately on the system and generate a TIN. That way, we can proceed with the submission of the docs as well. We already have the notatized SPA and the photocopy of her ID with 3 wet signatures, so all we need to do is complete the registration form.

2. The online route: we can submit the BIR registration form online and it will take 3 days to get the TIN. I didn't pay attention to the requirements of this because I was set to trouble them with the TIN registration themselves. 😒

So I told the BIR lady that we'll do option 1.

She told us we don't need to queue if we will be able to come back the same day, and just look for her.

Otherwise, we'll need to queue again if we'll come back another day.

So we hurried to the subdivision's clubhouse to talk to Sir E. 

Fortunately, the wife herself was with her SPA sibling, and just got home (they also live in the subdivision).

So we met at the clubhouse to settle this.

Sir E voluntarily filled the form by asking the details to the siblings.

Got the SPA to sign then we went off.

We got back to the BIR and went straight to counter 8. There are no more people in the queue anyway.

We submitted the completed TIN registration form, notarized SPA, and SPA's photocopy of ID with 3 wet signatures.

After a while, she gave us back the form with the old man's wife's new TIN, and proceeded with processing our docs.

After waiting for a few minutes, she presented us with the ONETT computation sheet and how the documentary stamp tax and capital gains tax that we need to pay were calculated.

She then explained that this will still need an approval and we'll claim it after 3 business days (by November 25, Tuesday).

We already expected the timeline and amount to pay, so we agreed.

We were able to come back on November 26, so you know the drill, queue again. 😅

After we were given the approved computation sheet, we went to their E-Lounge are where we were assisted to fill up eBIRForms on the available computer.

I filled up Forms 1706 and 2000OT and were sent to my email address for printing.

It was already 5pm when I finished so I'll just print these at home, 3 copies each, as well as the tax return submission confirmations that were sent to my email for each forms.

I printed everything in long bond paper, and all of them in 3 copies, to be sure, because I can't remember how many copies for the email confirmation.

Before we are able to pay these Forms 1706 (Capital Gains Tax) and 2000OT (Documentary Stamp Tax), we need to go back to BIR to get these prints TIN verified (they'll stamp the papers).

So come next day, November 27, we went back again to BIR, but this time, once we got our queue number, it was called immediately to counter 9 and got TIN verified. It was fast so I didn't get a photo of my number. 😅

After that, we went to one of the authorized agent banks of RDO6 Urdaneta, which is the BPI - Alexander branch.

For info, here's the list of their authorized agent banks.

We queued at BPI and waited for our turn.

It was pretty straightforward unlike my experience with LandBank (which I had to fill up payment forms with pen).

With BPI, they already have the choices on the screen when getting a queue number.

So I just chose for BIR Payment and inputted that it was for Forms 1706 and 2000OT, and I've also put the amount I have to pay which I just copied from the approved computation.

When our number was called, I gave the teller the TIN-verified forms and the payment.

She stamped the forms with "Received" and also attached the payment slip on the forms.

I can't remember if she took 1 copy of each or if she gave us back all the forms. 😅

But after the payment, we went straight back to BIR to submit all the documents for processing of eCAR.

Again, queue. 😅

After we submitted the documents, we were given a claim slip and were scheduled to return on December 8.

Since December 8 was a holiday, we claimed the eCAR on December 10.

We queued again, this time on Counter 7 for Releasing.

Before the eCAR was released though, they had us photocopy this (below photo) at the back of the copy of deed of sale.

So we went out again. 😒

But at least we didn't have to queue again.

I just went back to Counter 7 and gave her the photocopies.

And alas!

We finally got the eCAR!

Since the Registry of Deeds is near the BIR, we went straight to it to submit all the docs for transferring of the title, but unfortunately, their WANLINK system was experiencing error for a week already, so we weren't abe to submit the docs.

But since we were already there, we got our docs checked if there's anything missing.

She listed out the Realty Tax Clearance and Sales Tax Clearance which needs to be paid at the Treasurer's Office.

I'll make a separate blog post with our experience with the Registry of Deeds and the payment of the above since it is still ongoing.

But here's the summary of the required docs and our experience with getting an eCAR from BIR.

Required documents we submitted:

1. TIN of all the sellers and buyers
2. PSA-certified true copy of Marriage certificate of the sellers, if married transferor/s
3. Notarized Deed of Sale 
4. Certified True Copy of the Tax Declaration of Real Property at the time/nearest to the date of the transaction
5. Certified True Copy of Original / Transfer of Title 
6. Certificate of No Improvement
7. Notarized Special Power of Attorney (representative of the seller's wife because she's not available)
8. Location Plan / Vicinity map

All of these (except the TIN #) requires 1 Original and 2 Photocopies.

Summary of the process:

1. Complete the required docs.
2. Submit the docs to the BIR Counter 8, and they will check if the TINs provided are correct and docs are complete.
3. If there's no problem with the TINs and docs, BIR will show an ONETT computation sheet of the Capital Gains Tax and Documentary Stamp Tax that you need to pay.
4. If you agree with the computed amount, it will be submitted for approval and you will be given a Claim Slip, to be claimed after 3 business days.
5. Claim the approved ONETT Computation Sheet after 3 business days at Counter 8, and complete the Forms 1706 and 2000OT at the BIR's e-Lounge.
6. Print these forms in 3 copies as well as the email confirmation of submission, and get it TIN-verified at Counter 9.
7. Pay the amount at the BIR's authorized agent banks.
8. Go back to BIR and submit the docs and forms with the payment slip. You will be given a Claim Slip for eCAR, to be claimed after 7 business days.
9. Claim the eCAR from the BIR after 7 business days. They should have also returned the original docs to you.

~~~~