BIR reports 59% drop in cigarette tax stamps issued during lockdown

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The Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) has released a total of 537.13 million cigarette tax stamps worth P18.88 billion during four months of community quarantine imposed by the government from March to June, representing a 59-percent drop from the 1.32 billion tax stamps valued at P59.46 billion it issued in the same period last year.

In a report to Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III, the BIR said that compared to the March-June 2019 period, the volume of cigarette tax stamps during the same period this year dropped by 784.29 million valued at P40.66 million.

From March 1-15 this year, which was before the government’s imposition of enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) to curb the spread of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), the BIR released 50.85 million cigarette tax stamps for domestic use worth P1.78 billion, BIR Deputy Commissioner Arnel Guballa said in his report.

This is 176.03 million or 77.5 percent lower than the 226.88 million tax stamps worth P10.2 billion it released in the same period in 2019.

The number of tax stamps released by the BIR increased to 165.21 million (worth P5.78 billion), from March 16-31, which was the period when the Luzon-wide ECQ was first imposed, Guballa said.

This quantity is 62.72 million (worth P1.17 billion) more tax stamps than the 102.49 million valued at P4.61 billion released by the BIR in the same period last year, he said.

The March 16-31 volume declined sharply to 47.89 million tax stamps worth P1.68 billion in April, when the ECQ was extended, Guballa said.

This volume represents a significant drop of 85 percent—269.62 million tax stamps worth P12.61 billion—from the 317.51 million stamps valued at P14.29 billion that were released during the same period in 2019, he said.

The BIR reported a further decrease in May, with only 8.57 million cigarette tax stamps worth P299.89 million released during that month, as compared to the 385.04 million (worth P17.33 billion) issued in May 2019.

This represents a 98-percent drop or 376.47 million tax stamps worth P17.03 billion.

When Metro Manila and several other areas in the country shifted to the more relaxed general community quarantine (GCQ) in June, the BIR saw a drastic improvement, with 264.61 million tax stamps worth P9.26 billion released that month, Guballa said.

Compared to the June 2019 volume, he said this is 24.88 million (worth P3.76 billion) or 8.6 percent lower than the 289.5 million of tax stamps worth P13.03 billion released by the BIR during that period.

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