BIR sets minimum price of cigarettes to protect local manufacturers
By Jun Ramirez and Jun Ramirez
The Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) has introduced a minimum retail price for various cigarette items in a bid to safeguard domestic manufacturers and distributors and discourage the purchase of untaxed products online.
BIR Commissioner Romeo D. Lumagui, Jr. has issued Revenue Memorandum Circular 49-2023 to establish a pricing schedule, saying retailers selling tobacco products at a price lower than the total excise and value-added taxes will be fined and potentially imprisoned under the relevant provisions of the Tax Code.
The Tax Code empowers the BIR to establish the minimum cigarette price.
The updated minimum price schedule, as specified in the circular, takes into account excise and value-added taxes as well as the cost of production for cigarettes, heated tobacco, vaporized nicotine, and non-nicotine products.
The new pricing structure includes P114.60 for a pack of 20 cigarette sticks, P120.40 for a pack of 20 heated tobacco sticks, P200 for a bottle of two milliliters of vapor products, and P179.20 for a bottle of 10 milliliters of classic or freebase nicotine.