Philippines’ Vape Stamps, and Strong Enforcement, Bearing Fruit

According to Tobacco Reporter, the Philippines Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) has reported collections of PHP 942 million ($17 million) in excise taxes, on 130 million millilitres of vape products, in the six months since its vape stamp system was introduced (1 June 2024). In 2023, those numbers were only PHP 224 million ($4 million) on 11.2 million millilitres, for the entire year.

Notice to Philippines vape customers to check for presence of tax stamp.

‘There will be no let-up in our fight against illicit trade,’ BIR Commissioner Romeo Lumagui Jr said. ‘Just recently, we filed criminal cases against importers of vape products. This shows that the campaign against the illicit trade in vape products is continuous, and we will not stop until we address this issue.’ The BIR chief was referring to tax evasion cases filed in April against large-scale illicit vape businesses for failure to pay PHP 8.68 billion ($156 million) in taxes. The charges involved illegal vape traders selling the brand names Flava, Denkat, and Flare. The BIR also recently joined forces with the Bureau of Customs to destroy PHP 3.26 billion ($58.7 million) of seized vape products.