How to get a TIN (and TIN ID) in the Philippines

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Taxes. Everyone pays taxes. You pay taxes whenever you earn a salary (depending on the TRAIN law), you pay taxes when you operate a business, and you even pay taxes when you’re buying something from the store. Taxes are an unavoidable part of modern life as it’s how governments earn money.

You will, at some point in your life, have to get a Taxpayer Identification Number (TIN) from the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR), and it’ll be the one you will use for the rest of your life. You can only have ONE TIN by the way as it’s illegal to have more.

Why do you need a TIN? There are lots of government, bank, or other official transactions where you’ll need to provide one, and in today’s online gig economy, if you want to start an online business, do freelance work online, or even earn money as a YouTube or Twitch Streamer, you’ll need to have a TIN to monetize and start earning money.

Here’s how to get a TIN and a TIN ID here in the Philippines.

What do you need?

1. PSA Birth Certificate.
2. Valid Government-issued ID.
3. Photocopies of your Birth Certificate and IDs.
4. Form 1904 from the BIR (two copies).

For the TIN ID:

You’ll need to fill out another form and have extra photocopies of your documents. When you get your TIN ID, you’ll need to sign it, attach a 1×1 ID pic, and have it laminated.

Take note, however, that TIN IDs are sometimes unavailable, so ask around.

How to get your TIN and your TIN ID in the Philippines

Note: The process might be different for each Regional/District Office (RDO) of the BIR.

1. First of all, look for your RDO based on the Barangay where you live, plan to work, or plan to start a business on: https://www.bir.gov.ph/index.php/contact-us/directory/regional-district-offices.html
   • Note: If you work from home then your RDO is based on the Barangay where you live.
   • Bring the requirements: PSA birth certificate, valid ID, and their photocopies. Bring extra photocopies in case you need them for the TIN ID.
2. When you arrive at your RDO, get form 1904 and use E.O. 98 as your reason for registering. Fill up the required information and photocopy it (or just fill up two forms). If you need any help, just ask the BIR employees there.
3. After you’ve filled out your forms, give it to the representative handling TIN registrations. At certain RDOs, you give it to the guard and you wait to be called inside for processing.
4. Wait until you’re called at the counter for encoding. The employee there will take your information and encode your data.
5. They will give you your receiving copy of the form that you filled out and they will ask you to come back for your TIN on the date written there.
6. Return to your RDO on your scheduled date with your documents (the form you received and your IDs) and they will write your TIN there. 
   • Note: Bring photocopies of your ID and birth certificate when you return just in case TIN IDs are available. Fill out the form for the TIN ID, attach the required photocopies, and submit it to the BIR employee handling the IDs. They’ll print it out and hand it to you soon afterwards.
   • Don’t forget to sign your new TIN ID and attach a 1×1 ID picture to make it valid! After that, you can also have it laminated to protect it from moisture and damage.

And there you have it! That is how to get a TIN and TIN ID from the BIR. It’s rather simple if you have all your requirements, though there may be a lot of queueing and waiting during the entire process depending on your RDO branch.

Still, it’s best to do it whenever you can as not only is it necessary if you want to get a job, you’ll also need it to register and monetize your work if you someday decide to start freelancing, blogging, or streaming to earn money online.

I hope you learned a lot from this article! Do you have any questions about it? Just ask in the comments section below!