THE Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) said it will consider sellers of tobacco and vaping products that breach the government-determined floor price to be probable tax evaders.
“Any seller offering below these floor prices is not paying their proper taxes. They are illegal traders. Their warehouses and stores will be raided. The BIR will file criminal cases against these illegal tobacco and vape traders,” it said in a statement on Thursday.
The BIR this month set a new floor price for cigarettes, heated tobacco, vaporized nicotine and non-nicotine products.
The adjusted floor price is as follows: cigarettes at P114.6 per pack and P1,146 per ream; heated tobacco products P120.4 per pack; a pod of nicotine salt P200 per 2 milliliters (ml) and P354.97 per 4 ml; a bottle of classic nicotine P179.2 for 10 ml and P403.2 for 30 ml.
Selling below floor price commands penalties of as much as P500,000 and up to six years’ imprisonment.
In December, the BIR filed a P1.2 billion tax evasion complaint against illegal vape traders. — Luisa Maria Jacinta C. Jocson
