Compliance Rate to Cigarette Tax Stamp Rule Lowest in September

In the late 2014, the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) under then Commissioner Kim S. Jacinto-Henares implemented the Internal Revenue Stamps Integrated System (IRSIS) to ensure the collection of correct amounts of excise taxes.  After the confiscation of tens of thousands of cigarette packs without tax stamps in the provinces, it has intensified its compliance monitoring of tobacco products.

According to the latest data of the World Bank Philippines sin tax dashboard, compliance rate to the tax stamp rule was at its lowest at 75% and this was during the monitoring conducted during the week of September 18.  This later improved to 85.2% in the week of September 25 and for data according to cigarette brands, five brands had a compliance rate of 100% while one brand (Boss) had less than 10% compliance rate.  For data according to retail venues, tax stamp presence was high at 100% in two provinces in Luzon while no tax stamps were on monitored cigarette packs in three provinces, including Negros Oriental.