The Bureaus of Internal Revenue (BIR) and of Customs (BOC) have created a task force to crack down against smuggled and counterfeit cigarettes as they intensify their campaign against these illegal products.

During a recent executive committee (Execom) meeting of the Department of Finance (DOF), BIR deputy commissioner Arnel Guballa reported to Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III the proliferation in the domestic market of smuggled imported cigarettes as well as locally manufactured cigarettes with counterfeit or no tax stamps at all.

“We are planning to have our MOA (memorandum of agreement) with BOC on information sharing and coordination linkages regarding these smuggled excisable imported articles,” Guballa said in his report to Dominguez.

Guballa said that, on the part of the BIR, the agency has already created a strike team to act as lead and point coordinator of all BIR enforcement activities on smuggled articles and locally manufactured counterfeit excisable products.

BIR Commissioner Caesar Dulay earlier formed this task force and appointed Revenue Officer Remedios Advincula Jr. to lead the team.

“So we have a lead coordinator now regarding this raid on fake cigarettes or no stamps on the different parts of the country, from Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao,” Guballa said.

The BIR’s intensified campaign against counterfeit cigarettes led to the closure of local manufacturer Mighty Corp.’s operations last year.

The firm eventually sold its assets to be able to settle its tax obligations after the government slapped a string of criminal complaints against it for the use of counterfeit tax stamps on its products.

Mighty’s tax settlement generated P30.4 billion in total revenues comprising the payment of the firm’s deficiency taxes and transaction taxes arising from the sale of its assets.

The tax payments marked the largest amount ever collected by the government from a single corporate entity.

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