New and more secure yet costlier cigarette tax stamps will be out in October, according to the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR), despite an unresolved issue on the price of the stamps that will be shouldered by manufacturers and importers.
According to Revenue Memorandum Circular No. 102-2021 issued by Internal Revenue Commissioner Caesar Dulay last Sept. 21, the second-generation stamps traders are currently affixing to tax-paid cigarette packs will no longer be made available by Sept. 28, although the last stamp orders will still be released up to Oct. 10.
The stamps to be phased out will be valid up to March 2022 for locally produced cigarettes, and until May next year in the case of imports.
Starting Oct. 13, domestic manufacturers and importers should order the third-generation tax stamps. These will be released beginning Oct. 29.
The BIR earlier issued Revenue Regulations (RR) No. 18-2021, which mandates prior payments of excise taxes before traders are issued internal revenue stamps to be affixed to the packaging of all imported and locally made cigarettes, heated tobacco and vapor products for both domestic sale or exports.
Deputy Commissioner Arnel Guballa told the Inquirer that the BIR has yet to settle the cost of the new tax stamps to be churned out by state-run APO Production Unit Inc.
Under RR No. 18-2021, tax stamps will cost 20 centavos apiece. But Guballa said this was still “undergoing review.”
To recall, the industry group Philippine Tobacco Institute (PTI) early this year opposed APO’s plan to increase the stamp cost from 15 centavos currently, alleging that the government printer only wanted to double its profit.
The stamps originally cost 13 centavos each when the internal revenue stamp integrated system project began in 2014. The last price adjustment was made in 2018.
PTI, which groups domestic cigarette makers, exporters and tobacco leaf suppliers, had sought a “reasonable” two-centavo increase in the price of new cigarette tax stamps.