Knowing the legitimacy of a company or entity can serve you well depending on the purpose why you need to know such. For instance, if you are applying for a job, it will help if you know beforehand if the company you are applying for is legitimate or not due to the fact that it will be difficult for you to land in a non-registered company because you cannot claim the required benefits given by law when you work for that company. Another advantage of inquiring for the legitimacy of a company is when you make transactions with these companies commercially. There may be times when you will ask for official receipts for reimbursement or as an evidence of purchase.
In addition, when you start a new business, you will be required to give a name for your entity. So it is helpful if the name that you will be choosing is in existence or not to avoid waste of time in the processing your papers.
So here are helpful tips to help you know the legitimacy or complied registration of a company.
- For partnerships and corporations, because they are regulated by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), you can solicit information from them on the legitimacy of the company. However, due to automation, they already posted names of companies under them through their websites sec.gov.ph/onlinetransactions/search.html.If browsing through this site, you cannot find the name of the company you are looking for, it might be that the company is not registered at all in SEC or the processing is ongoing like newly starting company. So, it will be up to your discretion if you will involve transactions in this company or not.
- For the Department of Trade and Industry, they also have a website to know if the entity is registered or not through http://www.bnrs.dti.gov.ph/web/guest/search. However, as of now, they only have listed 1000 companies in their site that might not be so useful for viewers. So to be safe, you can approach the nearest DTI office in your area for said inquiry. Depending upon the importance of your request, they can advise you on what to do with your transaction of the entity you will be engaged with.
- The Bureau of Internal Revenue, on the other hand, is very open for inquiry on such questionable legitimacy of companies because inasmuch as possible, they would like to collect tax on said companies or entities. So, if you approach their office for such inquiry or doubt on the legitimacy of a company, you may even be given a reward for such reporting if they found out through investigation that said company/entity is operating without BIR permit. As such, asking the office regarding this matter is widely accepted.
If you yourself is going to start a business and to make the business legitimate, it is helpful that you get a permit for your businessmen to avoid trouble. Some cities like Taguig and Makati exempt small businessmen to get a permit at the start of the operation. However, if you know that the government in your area is strict enough regarding this, then you should find ways to apply legitimacy for your business.