BIR steps up efforts to combat illicit trade of tobacco products

The Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) said it will ramp up measures to crack down on illicit tobacco trade in the country.

“The revenue loss for tobacco is huge. And also that’s one of the main reasons why we’re not getting our collection target for excise taxes,” Lumagui said.

Lumagui said that for the first four months of the year, BIR recorded a 20-percent shortfall in the collection of excise tax.

While Lumagui did not provide the exact figure, data from the BIR showed that the excise tax collection goal for the first four months of the year was PHP112.37 billion.

Lumagui, however, was optimistic that they will be able recover the shortfall.

BIR Commissioner Romeo Lumagui Jr. on the sidelines of the Global Anti-Illicit Trade Summit on Thursday said that tobacco products are considered a major category of smuggled goods.

“A large part of that shortfall is attributable to tobacco,” he said.

“We’re doing our best and I’m FSRA, P8