Gov’t defers rollout of new cigarette tax stamps

The government has postponed until next year the release of the newly designed internal revenue tax stamps for cigarette products as it is still working on enhancing its security features, according to the Department of Finance (DOF).

In an interview, Finance Undersecretary Antonette Tionko said the government has moved its deadline for the roll out of the new internal revenue tax stamps to January 2018 from the original target of November this year.

“We are improving it but we will be moving the deadline a bit, maybe a few more months to January. There are still some things we tweaked on the security features,” Tionko told reporters.

Teresita Angeles, BIR assistant commissioner and officer-in-charge for the Large Taxpayers Service, said the security features of the new stamps are still being enhanced and tested.

With the release of a new tax stamps, the DOF and the BIR said the cost of the stamps would also increase from P0.13 per piece to about P0.15. “It’s two cents more,” Tionko said. Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez had said the government set out to redesign the tax stamps as its security features were compromised by counterfeiters in the market.

He had said this move would help plug the leakages caused by the proliferation of fake tax stamps and curb smuggling.

The Internal Revenue Stamps Integrated System (IRSIS), which was implemented starting 2014, is a track-and-trace system which will reflect when the cigarette was made, and when taxes were paid. The tax seals are being printed by the Apo Production Unit Inc.