Electronic cigarettes or vape worth P151.1 million in taxes were seized by the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) in three warehouses in Manila City and Rizal province.
In a statement, BIR Commissioner Romeo D. Lumagui Jr. reported that a total of 63,139 units of illegal vape products that have unpaid excise taxes were raided last March 27.
The perpetrators behind the three warehouses are set to face criminal and civil charges under the National Internal Revenue Code, violating value-added tax on sale of goods or properties, filing of return and payment of excise tax on domestic products, and payment of excise taxes on imported articles, among others.
"Register your vape businesses and we will help you. Pay the proper excise taxes on your vape products and we will help you. The raids and confiscation of vape businesses and products is the result of your non-registration and non-payment of excise taxes,” Lumagui said.
“The BIR is here to help in the registration and proper payment of taxes of all vape businesses. We will guide you every step of the way," he further stated.
The BIR has been setting its eyes on vape sellers following its P1.2 billion tax evasion case victory against a vape seller before the Department of Justice (DOF), which prompted the courts to issue warrants of arrest.
Last month, the BIR also seized 102,900 Flava vape products with deficiency taxes amounting to P75 million in a warehouse in Laguna.
The gains from these illegal products, such as electronic cigarettes with unpaid taxes, will provide the BIR its share of the P4.3 trillion revenue collection target of the Marcos administration this year.
Broken down, the bureau is expected to collect P3.05 trillion in tax revenues while the Customs aims to collect P1 trillion.
Based on data from the Bureau of the Treasury, BIR collected over P138 billion in February, translating to an increase of 6.65 percent from the P129.4 billion collected in the same month last year.
This figure makes the bureau’s tax revenue collection to P446.4 billion in the first two months of the year.