TWO persons were arrested in an entrapment operation by a joint force of the Bureau of Internal Revenue and Pangasinan Police Provincial Office inside a mall in Urdaneta City for selling fake Tax Identification Number (TIN) cards.

Arrested were Melanie Joy Zarraga y Orpilla, 21, of Brgy. Calaoagan and Mary Charmaine Orpilla y Expression, 26, of Brgy. Talogtog, both from Laoac town.

According to Ted Paragas, Chief of the Regional Intelligence Division of BIR Region 1, recovered from the suspects were 63 fake TIN ID cards that the suspects were selling to an undercover operative.

According to Paragas, prior to their arrest, BIR Urdaneta received a complaint from a victim that the suspects sold a fake TIN ID card to him.

The suspects were selling fake TIN cards for P250-280.

Accordingly, the Pangasinan PPO and BIR Regional Intelligence Division conducted a thorough investigation and a test buy in which the two cooperated in the sale of counterfeit TIN ID cards online.

A TIN ID card is an accountable form and selling or faking it is a violation of Section 258 and Section 257 of the Tax Code of 1997 and a penalty of of P50,000 fine up to P100,000 and two to six years in prison, Paragas said.

Paragas called on the public to advise those who may be in possession of fake TIN cards that they could suffer the same penalty for possessing a fake TIN card.

Initial BIR investigation showed that the suspects were resellers and received the cards from still unidentified suppliers. Transactions were made online.

According to Paragas, unknown to many, taxpayers can get their free TIN cards from BIR is free.

The BIR regional office has informed its national office of the discovered sale of fake TIN cards. (Nora Dominguez)

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