The SEC General Form for Financial Statements, commonly called the GFFS, is a separate report from a corporation’s audited financial statements. It converts key financial figures into a standardized format that the Securities and Exchange Commission can process electronically. The most important rules are easy to confuse: the ₱5 million revenue threshold for ordinary GFFS coverage is different from the ₱3 million threshold used to determine whether financial statements generally need an external audit, and the GFFS deadline is normally counted from the corporation’s AFS deadline, not from the day the corporation actually filed its AFS.

For corporations with a December 31 fiscal year filing their 2025 reports in 2026, the SEC extended the ordinary AFS deadline to June 15, 2026. Corporations required to submit a GFFS or Special Form for Financial Statements generally had 30 calendar days from that deadline, making July 15, 2026 the corresponding filing date. Different rules may apply to publicly listed companies, brokers, dealers, investment companies, financing companies, and other entities subject to specialized SEC reporting requirements. (Grant Thornton Philippines)

What Is the SEC GFFS?

The GFFS is an SEC-prescribed form containing structured financial data taken from a corporation’s final financial statements. It commonly includes figures relating to:

Assets and liabilities
Stockholders’ equity
Revenue or gross income
Expenses
Net income or loss
Cash flows
Retained earnings
Related financial disclosures

The GFFS does not replace the annual financial statements or AFS. A covered corporation normally files both:

Its complete financial statements, together with the required supporting documents; and
The appropriate GFFS or industry-specific Special Form for Financial Statements.

The figures in the GFFS must agree with the figures in the corporation’s final AFS. The SEC uses the standardized form to capture data consistently across thousands of corporations, while the AFS remains the complete set of financial statements reviewed or prepared under the applicable financial reporting framework.

GFFS, SFFS, AFS, GIS, and other corporate reports are now submitted through the SEC’s electronic filing system. Hard-copy filing and the former practice of submitting GFFS or SFFS files on a diskette or compact disc were discontinued under the SEC’s online submission rules. (SEC eFAST)

Who Is Required to File a GFFS?

Ordinary domestic stock corporations

Under SEC Memorandum Circular No. 6, Series of 2006, a domestic stock corporation is generally required to submit a GFFS when its annual gross sales or gross revenue reaches at least ₱5 million.

“At least” includes exactly ₱5 million. A domestic stock corporation reporting gross revenue of ₱5,000,000 is therefore generally within the threshold, subject to any later or more specific SEC rule applicable to its industry. (SEC Appointment System)

The test is based on annual gross sales or gross revenue, not on:

Net income
Taxable income
Paid-up capital
Authorized capital stock
Total assets
Total liabilities
The amount of cash in the bank

A corporation can have a net loss and still be required to file a GFFS if its gross revenue reaches the threshold.

Corporations subject to special financial forms

Some corporations should not use the ordinary GFFS even when their revenue exceeds ₱5 million. Regulated or publicly accountable entities may be required to use an applicable Special Form for Financial Statements, or SFFS, based on their industry and secondary license.

These may include:

Publicly held or publicly listed companies
Investment companies
Financing and lending companies
Brokers and dealers in securities
Investment houses and underwriters
Pre-need companies
Transfer agents
Government securities eligible dealers
Other entities supervised under securities-market or financial-industry rules

The correct form depends on the corporation’s registration, secondary license, industry classification, and current SEC instructions. A financing company, for example, should not automatically complete the ordinary commercial-company GFFS merely because the form is available in an old corporate file.

Non-stock corporations

The ordinary ₱5 million GFFS rule under SEC Memorandum Circular No. 6, Series of 2006 is directed principally at domestic stock corporations. A non-stock corporation must still file its required financial statements and other annual reports, but it should verify whether the SEC has prescribed a particular structured financial form for its classification.

The fact that a non-stock corporation files AFS does not automatically mean that it files the same GFFS used by an ordinary domestic stock corporation.

Foreign-owned Philippine corporations

A Philippine corporation does not become exempt merely because some or all of its shareholders are foreigners. A corporation incorporated under Philippine law remains a domestic corporation. If it is a stock corporation and meets the applicable revenue threshold, it is generally subject to the same GFFS rules as other Philippine domestic stock corporations.

Foreign ownership restrictions, nationality requirements, and foreign investment rules are separate issues. They do not ordinarily change the financial-form filing deadline.

Philippine branches of foreign corporations

A Philippine branch, representative office, regional office, or other SEC-licensed foreign corporation has its own annual reportorial obligations. However, it should not assume that the ordinary domestic-stock-corporation GFFS automatically applies.

The authorized filer should check:

The entity type shown in the SEC registration
The form options available in eFAST
Conditions in the SEC license
Any applicable industry-specific SFFS
Current SEC advisories for foreign corporations

Legal Basis for GFFS and Annual Financial Reporting

Section 177 of the Revised Corporation Code of the Philippines, Republic Act No. 11232 of 2019, requires domestic corporations and foreign corporations lawfully doing business in the Philippines to submit annual financial statements, a General Information Sheet, and other reports that the SEC may require. It also authorizes the SEC to prescribe the form and filing period for these reports. Repeated failure to submit required reports may result in delinquent status and other regulatory consequences. See the Revised Corporation Code on Lawphil. (Lawphil)

The more specific GFFS requirement comes from SEC Memorandum Circular No. 6, Series of 2006, which established the electronic submission of the General Form and specialized financial forms for covered corporations. Later SEC circulars moved the process to online filing and eliminated physical media submissions. (SEC Appointment System)

Do not confuse the ₱3 million and ₱5 million thresholds

Two different thresholds may affect the same corporation:

Rule	Current general threshold	What the threshold determines
SEC audit requirement	Total assets or total liabilities exceeding ₱3 million	Whether the corporation generally needs externally audited financial statements
Ordinary GFFS requirement	Annual gross sales or gross revenue of at least ₱5 million	Whether an ordinary domestic stock corporation generally submits a GFFS
BIR financial-statement rule	May depend on gross quarterly sales, earnings, receipts, or output under tax rules	Whether audited financial statements must accompany the income tax return
Specialized SEC reporting	Depends on the entity’s license or public-interest status	Whether a specialized SFFS or another industry report is required

SEC Memorandum Circular No. 4, Series of 2026 raised the general SEC audit threshold. For fiscal years ending on or after December 31, 2025, stock and non-stock corporations with total assets or total liabilities exceeding ₱3 million generally need audited financial statements. Corporations at or below the threshold may ordinarily submit financial statements accompanied by a sworn Statement of Management Responsibility, unless they belong to a category for which an audit remains mandatory regardless of size.

The audit threshold does not cancel or replace the GFFS revenue threshold. It is possible for a corporation to need a GFFS even when its financial statements are not required to be audited under the general SEC asset-or-liability test.

BIR requirements must also be checked separately. A corporation that does not need an audit under the SEC’s general threshold may still need audited financial statements for tax filing purposes when the applicable BIR threshold is met. (PwC)

SEC GFFS Filing Deadlines

General deadline

A corporation required to submit a GFFS or SFFS generally has 30 calendar days from the deadline for filing its annual financial statements.

The rule is not ordinarily “30 days from the date the AFS was actually filed.” Filing the AFS early does not normally move the GFFS deadline forward, and filing the AFS late does not extend the GFFS deadline.

For example:

AFS deadline: May 30
Actual AFS filing: May 10
GFFS deadline: Generally June 29, not June 9

The controlling date is the applicable AFS deadline or last day of the AFS submission period, subject to any specific SEC circular, extension, or special rule. (Digest PH)

Calendar-year corporations filing in 2026

For ordinary corporations with a fiscal year ending December 31, 2025, the SEC extended the 2026 AFS deadline from May 29 to June 15, 2026. Applying the 30-calendar-day rule, the corresponding GFFS or SFFS deadline was July 15, 2026. (Grant Thornton Philippines)

Report	Deadline for an ordinary December 31 fiscal-year corporation in 2026
Annual financial statements for 2025	June 15, 2026
GFFS or applicable SFFS	July 15, 2026

These dates do not necessarily apply to corporations filing SEC Form 17-A, brokers and dealers filing SEC Form 52-AR, or other entities governed by a specialized filing calendar.

Corporations with a fiscal year other than December 31

A corporation with a non-calendar fiscal year generally files its annual financial statements within 120 calendar days after the end of its fiscal year, unless a more specific rule applies. Its GFFS deadline is normally 30 calendar days from that AFS deadline. (SEC eFAST)

Example:

Fiscal year-end: September 30
Ordinary AFS deadline: 120 calendar days later
GFFS deadline: 30 calendar days after the applicable AFS deadline

The corporation should calculate the dates using actual calendar days and then check for SEC rules addressing weekends, holidays, system interruptions, or formal extensions.

Special deadlines for publicly accountable entities

Publicly listed companies, companies with registered securities, brokers, dealers, and other regulated entities may have earlier annual-report deadlines under the Securities Regulation Code, SRC Rule 68, or their secondary-license regulations.

They should determine the GFFS or SFFS deadline from the specific annual-report deadline applicable to them rather than automatically using the ordinary corporate deadline.

SEC GFFS Filing Requirements

A typical GFFS filing requires the following:

Requirement	Practical purpose
Correct GFFS or SFFS template	Ensures the corporation uses the form applicable to its entity type
Final financial statements	Provides the authoritative figures to be encoded
SEC registration details	Identifies the corporation correctly
Fiscal year or period covered	Matches the reporting period in the AFS
Complete financial data	Populates every required field, schedule, and disclosure
Active eSECURE/eFAST account	Allows electronic submission
Authorized filer	Establishes responsibility for the filing
Accepted-filing confirmation or QR code	Proves SEC receipt and acceptance

Use the current SEC template

Do not reuse an old GFFS file merely because it worked in a previous year. The SEC may revise templates, transitional forms, validation rules, or upload instructions.

The filer should obtain the version currently available through:

The SEC eFAST portal
The corporation’s eFAST account
Current SEC announcements
The SEC’s official templates or downloadable forms

Complete the prescribed template without deleting required worksheets, changing formulas, renaming required sheets, or redesigning the form. If eFAST requires a PDF generated from the completed workbook, make sure every relevant page is readable and included.

Reconcile every figure with the AFS

Before submission, compare the GFFS line by line against the final AFS. Pay particular attention to:

Current and non-current assets
Current and non-current liabilities
Capital stock and additional paid-in capital
Retained earnings or accumulated deficit
Gross revenue
Cost of sales or services
Operating expenses
Other income and expenses
Income tax expense
Net income or loss
Beginning and ending cash
Comparative prior-year figures

Rounding differences should be addressed consistently. Do not change the GFFS simply to make a validation warning disappear if the resulting figure would no longer match the AFS.

No routine apostille requirement

The GFFS itself is an electronic corporate report. It does not ordinarily require apostille, consular authentication, or submission of foreign public documents.

Apostille or authentication may become relevant when a separate SEC transaction requires a foreign-issued corporate document, such as a board resolution, certificate of incumbency, or foreign regulator’s certification. That is different from the routine annual GFFS submission.

Notarization and sworn documents

The former physical-media process included certifications associated with electronic copies. Current eFAST filing does not require the filer to submit a diskette or compact disc.

A corporation may still need sworn or notarized documents as part of its financial-statement package. For example, a corporation submitting unaudited financial statements under the current threshold rules generally needs a Statement of Management Responsibility signed under oath by the prescribed corporate officers. That sworn statement relates to the financial statements, not to a separate notarization of every GFFS page.

How to File the GFFS Through eFAST

Confirm whether the corporation is covered. Check the corporation’s entity type, annual gross revenue, SEC registration, secondary licenses, and public-interest status. Determine whether it should use the ordinary GFFS or an SFFS.
Identify the correct deadline. Find the corporation’s applicable AFS deadline, including any formal SEC extension. Add 30 calendar days unless a special regulation prescribes another date.
Finalize the financial statements first. Use the final figures approved for filing. Do not prepare the GFFS from an early trial balance if audit adjustments or management corrections are still expected.
Download the current form. Obtain the applicable template from the SEC’s current filing system or official announcement. Avoid templates copied from another corporation or an old year.
Complete all required fields. Enter the correct SEC registration number, company name, fiscal year, industry information, financial figures, and comparative data. Preserve required formulas, labels, and schedules.
Perform a reconciliation review. Compare the completed form with the statement of financial position, income statement, cash-flow statement, statement of changes in equity, and notes to financial statements.
Prepare the required upload file. Follow the file format currently specified in eFAST. Financial statements and other reports are generally uploaded electronically in PDF form, while the underlying GFFS is prepared using the prescribed structured template. Ensure that the generated document is complete, legible, correctly oriented, and not password-protected. (SEC eFAST)
Sign in through eSECURE and open eFAST. Use the corporation’s properly enrolled account and authorized filer credentials. The SEC eSECURE portal serves as the account and identity gateway for SEC online services, including eFAST. (esecure.sec.gov.ph)
Select the correct report type. In eFAST, choose the applicable GFFS or SFFS submission category. Enter the correct period covered and indicate whether the filing is an annual submission, amendment, or another permitted type.
Upload and formally submit the report. Merely uploading the file is not enough. Complete the submission process and confirm that the system status changes from Uploaded to Submitted.
Monitor the filing until it is accepted. eFAST may show the report as Uploaded, Submitted, Accepted, or Reverted. A reverted report is treated as not filed. Correct the stated deficiencies and resubmit promptly. (SEC eFAST)
Save the proof of acceptance. Keep the confirmation email, QR-coded acceptance document, screenshots, and a copy of the exact file submitted. The QR code is the corporation’s evidence that the SEC received and accepted the filing. (SEC eFAST)

Common Reasons a GFFS Filing Is Reverted

The company details do not match SEC records

The corporation’s name and SEC registration number must match its SEC profile. Problems commonly arise after:

A change of corporate name
A merger or consolidation
Conversion into a One Person Corporation
Use of an old SEC number
Typographical errors
Filing through the wrong company profile

The wrong reporting period was selected

The period covered in eFAST should match the fiscal year stated in the financial statements and independent auditor’s report, when applicable. Selecting the upload date, tax-return date, or previous fiscal year can cause a mismatch.

The figures do not agree with the AFS

A GFFS may be questioned when revenue, total assets, total liabilities, equity, or net income differs from the financial statements. This often happens when the GFFS was prepared before the audit was completed.

The wrong form was used

An ordinary GFFS may be inappropriate for a financing company, broker, investment company, or another corporation subject to a specialized financial form.

The template was altered

Deleting worksheets, unlocking formulas, changing labels, inserting columns, or modifying validation cells can make the form unreadable or inconsistent with the prescribed format.

The upload is incomplete or illegible

The SEC may revert a report because of missing pages, unreadable text, incorrect orientation, dark scans, cut-off figures, or poor image quality. SEC filing guidance recommends clear scans and warns against using camera photographs in place of properly generated or scanned documents. (SEC eFAST)

The filer stopped at “Uploaded”

An uploaded report has not necessarily been submitted. The filer must complete the submission steps and monitor the report until it is accepted. A report marked Reverted remains legally unfiled until corrected and successfully resubmitted. (SEC eFAST)

Practical Examples

Revenue exceeds ₱5 million, but assets are below ₱3 million

A domestic stock corporation has:

Gross revenue: ₱6 million
Total assets: ₱2.5 million
Total liabilities: ₱1 million

It may fall below the general SEC audit threshold because neither total assets nor total liabilities exceeds ₱3 million. However, it may still be required to file a GFFS because its gross revenue is at least ₱5 million. Its BIR audit obligations must be checked separately.

Assets exceed ₱3 million, but revenue is below ₱5 million

A domestic stock corporation has:

Gross revenue: ₱3 million
Total assets: ₱10 million
Total liabilities: ₱4 million

It generally needs audited financial statements because its assets and liabilities exceed the current SEC audit threshold. However, the ordinary ₱5 million GFFS revenue threshold may not be met.

This illustrates why “audited AFS required” and “GFFS required” are not interchangeable conclusions.

Foreign shareholders own the corporation

A Philippine domestic stock corporation is 60% Filipino-owned and 40% foreign-owned. It earns ₱8 million in annual gross revenue.

Its foreign ownership does not remove the GFFS requirement. The corporation remains a domestic stock corporation and is generally covered because its annual revenue exceeds the threshold.

The GFFS was submitted before the deadline but later reverted

A corporation uploads its GFFS on July 14. The SEC reverts it on July 16 because the period covered is incorrect.

The July 14 upload does not guarantee timely compliance. A reverted filing is considered not filed. The corporation should correct the error and resubmit immediately, retain the original submission records, and monitor the new filing until it is accepted. (SEC eFAST)

What Happens If the GFFS Is Filed Late?

A corporation that misses the deadline should still file the correct report as soon as possible. Continuing to leave the report unfiled generally creates a worse compliance record than completing a late submission.

Possible consequences include:

SEC monetary penalties under the applicable schedule
Difficulty obtaining a clear compliance status
Delays in amendments, registrations, applications, or other SEC transactions
Problems during due diligence, bank reviews, audits, or investor checks
Accumulation of multiple years of unfiled reports
Delinquent status after repeated failure to submit required reports
Additional work reconciling old financial data with later filings

The exact assessment can depend on the report involved, the corporation’s classification, its filing history, the length of delay, and the penalty rules in force when the SEC processes the violation. Section 177 of the Revised Corporation Code expressly recognizes delinquent status as a possible consequence of repeated failure to submit required reports. (Lawphil)

When filing late, preserve:

The completed GFFS or SFFS
The accepted AFS
eFAST submission confirmations
Reversion notices
Corrected files
QR-coded acceptance records
SEC payment or assessment records
Correspondence concerning technical system problems

Frequently Asked Questions

Do all SEC-registered corporations need to file a GFFS?

No. Ordinary GFFS coverage generally applies to domestic stock corporations with annual gross sales or gross revenue of at least ₱5 million. Some regulated corporations use an SFFS, while non-stock and foreign corporations must check the forms applicable to their classifications. (SEC Appointment System)

Is the GFFS the same as the audited financial statements?

No. The AFS is the corporation’s complete set of financial statements. The GFFS is a standardized SEC form containing selected figures transcribed from those statements. A covered corporation generally files both.

When is the SEC GFFS deadline?

The general deadline is 30 calendar days from the applicable AFS filing deadline, not 30 days from the date the corporation happened to file its AFS. (Digest PH)

What was the GFFS deadline for December 31 fiscal-year corporations in 2026?

For ordinary calendar-year corporations whose AFS deadline was extended to June 15, 2026, the corresponding GFFS or SFFS deadline was July 15, 2026. Specialized entities may have had different deadlines. (Grant Thornton Philippines)

Is a corporation with exactly ₱5 million in gross revenue required to file?

Generally, yes. The rule covers annual gross sales or gross revenue of at least ₱5 million, which includes exactly ₱5 million. (Scribd)

Does the new ₱3 million audit threshold change the GFFS threshold?

No. The ₱3 million test generally determines whether financial statements must be audited under SEC rules. The ₱5 million test concerns ordinary GFFS coverage. A corporation may satisfy one threshold without satisfying the other.

Can the GFFS be filed on the same day as the AFS?

Yes, provided the financial statements are final, the GFFS figures agree with them, and the correct filing process is completed. The corporation does not need to wait until the last day of the 30-day period.

Does the GFFS need to be notarized?

The current electronic GFFS itself is not ordinarily notarized as a separate physical document. However, the corporation’s financial-statement package may contain sworn documents, including a Statement of Management Responsibility when required.

What should the corporation do if eFAST reverts the GFFS?

Read the stated reason, correct the file or submission information, resubmit immediately, and monitor the new filing until it is accepted. A reverted report is treated as not filed. (SEC eFAST)

Is an uploaded GFFS already considered filed?

Not necessarily. “Uploaded” only means the file has been placed in the system. The filing must reach Submitted status and ultimately be Accepted. The corporation should keep the QR-coded acceptance record as proof of SEC receipt. (SEC eFAST)

Key Takeaways

The GFFS is a structured SEC report and does not replace the annual financial statements.
An ordinary domestic stock corporation generally files a GFFS when annual gross sales or gross revenue reaches at least ₱5 million.
The ₱3 million SEC audit threshold and the ₱5 million GFFS revenue threshold serve different purposes.
The GFFS deadline is normally 30 calendar days from the applicable AFS deadline, not from the actual filing date.
For ordinary December 31 fiscal-year corporations filing their 2025 reports in 2026, the AFS deadline was June 15, 2026 and the related GFFS or SFFS deadline was July 15, 2026.
Regulated and publicly accountable corporations may need an industry-specific SFFS instead of the ordinary GFFS.
Foreign ownership of a Philippine domestic corporation does not create an exemption.
Use the current SEC template, reconcile every figure with the final AFS, and preserve all acceptance records.
An eFAST status of Uploaded is not the same as Submitted or Accepted.
A reverted report is considered not filed and should be corrected and resubmitted immediately.