BIR launches TIN Verifier app

The Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) launched a mobile app that can verify tax identification numbers (TINs), as it cracks down against sellers of fake TIN cards online.

BIR Deputy Commissioner Arnel Guballa said the TIN Verifier app, launched last January, allows users to inquire and validate TIN in real time from concerned BIR offices.

It is available for both iOS and Android users.

The TIN Verifier requires the user to input his or her complete name, birthdate, address, civil status, and spouse name, and take a selfie together with a valid government-issued ID before proceeding to use the application.

“The development of the mobile application is one of the bureau’s efforts in its digital transformation by giving our taxpayers a convenient way and alternative in availing of the TIN validation service instead of going physically and queueing in the BIR district office,” Dulay said.

The BIR will still continue to accept walk-in validation and inquiries about TINs in the bureau’s district offices to serve taxpayers with no access to this mobile service. 

The development of the app comes two years after the BIR warned the public against individuals selling unauthorized or fake TIN cards online.

The agency was able to apprehend several of these online sellers of fake TINs in 2020. – Rappler.com