Want to know if you bought smuggled cigarettes? BIR has an app

The Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) has launched a mobile app that would allow smokers to know if they purchased smuggled or counterfeit cigarettes.

The BIR this month made available the Android and iOS versions of the “Stamp Verifier” app, which Commissioner Kim S. Jacinto-Henares said “would enable the user to determine the authenticity of the internal revenue stamps affixed to locally manufactured cigarettes intended for domestic consumption as well as imported cigarettes.”

The BIR started implementing in late 2014 the Internal Revenue Stamps Integrated System (Irsis) on tobacco products. The Irsis was aimed at ensuring the collection of the correct excise taxes from cigarette manufacturers and importers.

Using Stamp Verifier “would provide the public with a tool in identifying smuggled and counterfeit cigarettes proliferating in the country,” Henares said in a circular.

The app will scan the QR code on cigarette tax stamps that bear a “unique identifier code” (UIC) as long as the mobile device is connected to the Internet. It can be downloaded for free.

If the app’s scan result shows the message “Invalid QR Code,” the cigarette pack is either smuggled or counterfeit since its UIC is not in the BIR’s database of products that have already paid excise taxes, Henares said.

“The information retrieved through scanning shall automatically be uploaded to the Irsis mobile app web service for monitoring and evaluation purposes. Thereafter, BIR, based on the evaluated information, shall institute actions on persons responsible for the manufacture/sale of these cigarette packs,” the BIR chief said.

This month, reports quoted Henares as saying the BIR was looking into reports of cigarette smuggling through channels in Mindanao. The smuggled cigarettes also found their way to Cebu and Palawan.

The Philippine Tobacco Institute (PTI) earlier said it was concerned about the illegal entry of imported cigarette brands such as American Legend, Far Star, Fort, Gudang Garam, Navy and Union, which allegedly came from Cambodia, China, Indonesia and Malaysia.

“Each pack was cheaply sold at P18 to P20, which was not even equivalent to the excise tax due on cigarettes at P25 per pack,” said PTI, an umbrella group of tobacco stakeholders.

“The PTI is advising the public not to patronize smuggled and fake cigarettes since aside from not paying taxes, the contents or materials used in making such could be extremely dangerous,” it said.