Netizens are still interacting with a six-week-old Facebook (FB) post offering to assist — for a fee — those applying for and getting their Taxpayer Identification Number (TIN) cards.
Such posts are unauthorized, the Bureau of Internal Revenue declared.
The fake June 25 post by FB page TIN Online Assist read:
“Walang time pumila, ayaw ma – hassle at mapagod sa pagkuha ng V A L I D ID? Luma na ang yellow card at gusto ma palitan ng N E W GREEN WITH QR C O D E. UPGRADE NA!”
(No time to fall in line? Don’t want to be hassled and tired to get a valid ID? The yellow [TIN] card is now old and you want to replace it with a new green one with a QR code. Update now!)
“DO NOT get TIN or TIN Cards from unauthorized BIR personnel, non-BIR personnel or through Facebook, Shopee, Lazada and other online selling platforms, because they are considered illegal, fraudulent and FAKE,” BIR Commissioner Romeo Lumagui Jr. said in a June 19 advisory.
“The ID Card is an accountable form and selling and faking it is punishable by a fine and imprisonment under Section 257 of the Tax Code of 1997, as amended,” the advisory further read.
FB page TIN Online Assist asked readers to send a private message to avail of their service. They respond with a form for people to fill out and ask for a payment of P399 for delivery of the TIN card to Metro Manila residents and P420 for provincial residents.
TIN cards are provided free of charge in BIR’s revenue district offices (RDOs). Lost or damaged TIN cards, meanwhile, have a P100 replacement fee.
TIN Online Assist (created on June 24 under the name OnlineDocs by QBS) also claimed that the TIN card they provide has no requirements. Not true.
Applicants for the TIN card are required to physically appear in the RDO where they are registered, BIR’s Revenue Memorandum Circular No. 58-2023 states. TIN card applicants should provide the following documents:
- A duly-accomplished BIR Form No. 1905;
- A copy of a 1×1 ID picture to be put in the TIN card; and
- Any government ID.
TIN Online Assist’s post got a total of over 8,850 interactions. It appeared a week after BIR warned against sellers of fake TIN cards.
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(Editor’s Note: VERA Files has partnered with Facebook to fight the spread of disinformation. Find out more about this partnership and our methodology.)
