Tax season in 2026 won’t be like any other. Many businesses will have to file their first Business Income and Receipt Tax (BIRT) returns, marking a big tax policy change in Philadelphia.

Over the past ten years, Philly businesses with gross receipts under $100,000 didn’t have to file BIRT returns. But a legal challenge forced the City to end its BIRT statutory exemption policy in 2025.

From now on, if your business is located in the city and you do business, you must file a BIRT return, regardless of sales and activity. Also, be prepared to pay any liabilities owed. You can no longer claim the $100,000 statutory BIRT exemption.

We know this transition will be tough. So, we’ve been doing everything we can to ensure businesses are ready for the tax season. Along with the Department of Commerce, we’ve hosted multiple information sessions about the upcoming tax changes. In those sessions,

Make sure you read the notice we sent you about what’s changing and what you need to do to prepare. If you missed it in the mail, you can still read it on our website—it’s available in eight languages.

More importantly, if this is your first time filing, remember that you don’t have to worry about estimated payments this year. You can defer them until 2027. Learn how the City is making the transition to filing the BIRT easier in this blog post.

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Here are a few tips to make filing easier this tax season:

  • Create a Philadelphia Tax Center username and password if you haven’t already done so. This guide walks you through the process step by step. When you create a username and password, you can view balances, make and cancel payments, set up or change payment plans, change your language preferences, update your tax account, and much more. The verification process is now simpler for taxpayers already in our database. Review the new verification methods.
  • Keep detailed records of your business activities, especially if you do business in and outside Philadelphia.
  • Consult a tax professional or financial advisor about how the changes to Philly’s tax structure may impact your business tax obligations. The Department of Commerce offers free tax preparation for businesses with less than $250,000 of sales.
  • File online to save time. Once logged into the Philadelphia Tax Center, find your account in the Summary subtab and follow the prompts to securely file your returns. We continue to improve the Tax Center to make it easier for you to file and pay from your computer, tablet, or smartphone wherever and whenever you want. Filing online reduces errors and speeds up processing.
  • File a complete BIRT return even if you don’t have a liability to record a loss you can later use to offset future liabilities. The Philadelphia Tax Center stores losses. It’s streamlined to help you carry them over automatically from earlier tax years. Losses incurred in 2022 and after can be carried forward for up to 20 years.
  • File a BIRT-EZ if all of your business is in Philadelphia. We no longer offer the no tax liability form.
Find out how Philly's tax structure is changing and how it will impact your business this tax season.