BIR Advisory to the Public: Pending Tax Obligation Modus

The public is hereby warned of certain parties who make misrepresentations to taxpayers that the latter have pending tax audit/liabilities with this or that Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) office. One of such misrepresentations pertains to alleged calls (telephone) from the Office of the Deputy Commissioner-Operations Group telling the party called that its alphabetical list of employees has a problem or “tax difference.” Another employee called upon has consulted the Office of the Deputy by email who has been promptly advised that said calls did not come from that Office. But the latest one called upon by the impostors is a taxpayer who is personally known to the Deputy Commissioner himself. The victim lost no time in informing the Deputy who disowned such calls.

The modus operandi consists of informing the intended victim of alleged tax obligations, mostly but not limited to tax on compensation, and advises the intended victim to call certain numbers like 387-44-16, 703-99-54, 408-39-47, purportedly to settle. These numbers do not belong to the BIR, thus, if one day you are also a victim, please ask for documentary proof of the BIR assessment or letter and determine the identity of the caller and report the same to the nearest law enforcement office like the police or the NBI.

Incidentally, Commissioner Kim S. Jacinto-Henares, through Revenue Memorandum Circular No. 6-2013, advised the taxpayers to hire or engage the services of tax agents or practitioners who are accredited by the BIR.