BIR hastens digital tracking for vape

The government is ramping up the adoption of stamp and digital tracking systems to prevent the sale of unregistered vape products, Bureau of Internal Revenue Commissioner Romeo Lumagui Jr. said.

“We’re expecting to implement the stamps by June, and we’re also already processing the procurement of a digital track solution where anybody can check whether the items are illicit or not,” he said.

These statements came after the BIR confiscated thousands of unregistered vape from vendors with over P100 million in tax liabilities.

Lumagui said the digital tools can help the BIR determine how big the market for vape is in the country and the total revenues the government is losing to illegal vape.

Excise tax must be paid

“Their vendors should pay excise taxes. For vape, we really don’t know the extent of the revenue losses because this industry is not yet relatively established,” Lumagui said.

However, he observes the local market for vape seems to be growing as Lumagui said the BIR is now lacking space for storing its confiscated vape products.

“We have them stored in different regional offices. Our staff cannot fully use the office floor because some vape boxes are already placed there,” he said.

Lumagui said the BIR must still secure legal authorization to dispose of the seized vape products.

He hoped the BIR could accomplish this within the first half of the year.

“We can only dispose of those which have no cases filed with the court. For those with court cases, the BIR is monitoring them as motions for vape disposals were already filed last year,” Lumagui shared.