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How to Verify a BIR Letter of Authority Is Real Using the REVIE Chatbot

·8 mins
Guides BIR Compliance Tax Updates BIR

Revenue Memorandum Circular No. 5-2026, issued January 23, 2026, added an “LOA Verifier” to the BIR’s chatbot REVIE, letting any taxpayer confirm whether a Letter of Authority (LOA) presented by a revenue officer was actually issued by the BIR. You enter the taxpayer’s registered name, TIN, and the LOA case number printed on the document; REVIE returns either “LOA FOUND” (the document is genuine) or “LOA Not Found” (the BIR could not confirm it, and you should pursue manual verification before producing any records).

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What is RMC No. 5-2026 and why does it matter? #

RMC No. 5-2026 is the circular the BIR issued on January 23, 2026 to announce the LOA Verifier, a new feature inside its chatbot REVIE, accessible through the BIR’s official website, www.bir.gov.ph. It matters because a BIR audit has no legal footing at all without a valid Letter of Authority naming the examining officer and the taxable period — an LOA that was never actually issued by the BIR carries no authority, no matter how official it looks. Before RMC No. 5-2026, a taxpayer had no fast, independent way to check a document’s authenticity except calling or visiting a Revenue District Office.

What information does the REVIE LOA Verifier require? #

The LOA Verifier asks for exactly three pieces of information, all of which should already be printed on the LOA or eLA the revenue officer hands you: the taxpayer’s registered name, the taxpayer identification number (TIN), and the LOA case number. Entering these into REVIE checks them against the BIR’s own record of issued LOAs. If any of the three details is missing or illegible on the document presented to you, that alone is worth flagging to the officer before you attempt verification.

What do “LOA FOUND” and “LOA Not Found” actually mean? #

A “LOA FOUND” result confirms that the name, TIN, and case number you entered match a Letter of Authority genuinely issued and recorded by the BIR — the document is authentic. A “LOA Not Found” result means REVIE could not match what you entered to any record in the system; this doesn’t prove fraud on its own (a typo in the case number can trigger it too), but RMC No. 5-2026 treats it as a trigger for manual verification rather than something to simply retry until it works. Genuine tax-practice commentary on the rollout has framed the stakes plainly. Mon Abrea, a former BIR examiner writing in Rappler’s “Ask the Tax Whiz” column on the launch, put it this way:

“As taxpayers, knowing and using this feature is an important step in ensuring that tax audit is handled properly, fairly, and within the bounds of the law.”

How do you use the LOA Verifier step by step? #

  1. Ask for the LOA or eLA before anything else. Do not allow a records inspection to begin without first being shown the actual document — a revenue officer’s badge or verbal claim of authority is not the LOA itself.
  2. Copy the three required details exactly as printed: the taxpayer’s registered name, the TIN, and the LOA case number.
  3. Go to www.bir.gov.ph and open the chatbot REVIE. Navigate to the LOA Verifier feature within REVIE.
  4. Enter the taxpayer name, TIN, and LOA case number exactly as they appear on the document.
  5. Read the result. “LOA FOUND” means the document is authentic; “LOA Not Found” means the BIR’s system could not confirm it.
  6. If the result is “LOA FOUND,” proceed to the officer’s-name and taxable-period checks — verifying authenticity does not by itself confirm the officer in front of you is the one actually named on the document.
  7. If the result is “LOA Not Found,” do not produce books or records. Email contact_us-LOA@bir.gov.ph with a copy of the LOA, the details printed on it, and the issuing office shown on its face.
  8. Wait for the BIR’s response. RMC No. 5-2026 provides that the Assessment Service completes validation and responds within three working days of receiving a complete request.

Worked scenario: an unannounced visit at a small retail business #

Consider a small appliance retailer in Quezon City. A man arrives at the shop identifying himself as a BIR revenue officer, presents a printed Letter of Authority, and asks the owner to pull three years of sales invoices and ledgers on the spot. The document has the BIR letterhead, a case number, and a signature block — visually convincing.

Before handing over a single folder, the owner takes five minutes to open www.bir.gov.ph on a phone, finds the chatbot REVIE, and enters the business’s registered name, TIN, and the LOA case number printed at the top of the document. REVIE returns “LOA Not Found.” That result alone doesn’t mean the visitor is committing fraud — it could be a data-entry mismatch on either side — but under RMC No. 5-2026 it means the owner should not proceed on the strength of the document alone. The owner tells the officer that verification came back unmatched, asks for a copy or photo of the LOA to attach to a verification email, and sends it to contact_us-LOA@bir.gov.ph along with the case number and the RDO or office shown on the document, then waits for the BIR’s response before producing any records. This is exactly the situation the LOA Verifier is built for: a taxpayer with no legal background, in the moment, checking a claim of authority against the BIR’s own system instead of taking a stranger’s word — or a convincing letterhead — at face value.

How does this fit with the 2026 audit-resumption reforms? #

RMC No. 5-2026 did not appear in isolation. The BIR had suspended field audits in late 2025 partly over reports of fake and irregular LOAs, then resumed operations in 2026 under a revised framework. For the fuller picture of that resumption — including the shift to a single electronic Letter of Authority (eLA) per taxpayer per taxable year, and how examiner reassignments are now handled through a Replacement eLA — see this site’s guide to RMO No. 1-2026 and the 2026 audit resumption. For the underlying rules on what makes any LOA valid in the first place, and a taxpayer’s due-process rights once an audit begins, see the general BIR Letter of Authority and audit-rights guide.

Frequently Asked Questions #

What is the BIR’s LOA Verifier? #

The LOA Verifier is a feature added to the BIR’s chatbot REVIE under Revenue Memorandum Circular No. 5-2026, issued January 23, 2026. It lets a taxpayer check whether a Letter of Authority (LOA) presented by a revenue officer was actually issued by the BIR, by entering the taxpayer’s registered name, TIN, and the LOA case number printed on the document.

Where do I access the REVIE chatbot to check an LOA? #

REVIE is accessible through the BIR’s official website, www.bir.gov.ph. Look for the chatbot REVIE, select or navigate to the LOA Verifier feature, and enter the required details from the document in front of you.

What does a “LOA Not Found” result mean? #

“LOA Not Found” means REVIE could not match the taxpayer name, TIN, and LOA case number you entered to any LOA on the BIR’s system. It does not automatically prove the document is fake, but it means the BIR could not confirm it, and RMC No. 5-2026 directs you to seek manual verification rather than proceed with the audit.

What should I do if REVIE returns “LOA Not Found”? #

Email contact_us-LOA@bir.gov.ph with a copy of the LOA, the details printed on it, and the issuing office shown on its face. RMC No. 5-2026 provides that the BIR’s Assessment Service completes validation and issues an official response within three working days of receiving a complete request. Do not produce books or records to the revenue officer while this manual check is pending.

Does a “LOA FOUND” result mean I have to comply immediately with everything the officer asks? #

No. “LOA FOUND” confirms the document was genuinely issued by the BIR, but it does not waive your other rights during an audit — the officer must still be the one named on the LOA, must stay within the taxable period stated, and document requests should trace back to the standardized audit checklist under RMO No. 1-2026. Verifying authenticity is a first check, not the only check.

Does the LOA Verifier work for both paper LOAs and electronic LOAs (eLA)? #

Yes. RMC No. 5-2026’s LOA Verifier covers both the traditional paper Letter of Authority and the electronic Letter of Authority (eLA) rolled out under RMO No. 1-2026’s audit framework — you enter the same three details (name, TIN, case number) regardless of which format was served on you.

Summary #

RMC No. 5-2026 gave every taxpayer a fast, independent way to check whether a Letter of Authority is real before letting a revenue officer examine a single book or record: enter the taxpayer name, TIN, and LOA case number into the BIR’s chatbot REVIE at www.bir.gov.ph, read whether the result is “LOA FOUND” or “LOA Not Found,” and if it’s not found, email contact_us-LOA@bir.gov.ph and wait for the BIR’s Assessment Service to respond within three working days rather than taking the document at face value. Pair this check with the officer-name and taxable-period checks in the general LOA guide and the broader 2026 reforms covered in the RMO No. 1-2026 audit-resumption guide.