Philippine Revenue Service reminds e-cigarette merchants to face six years in prison for registering offenders

On January 10, local time, Romeo Lumagui Jr., director of the Philippine Bureau of Business (BIR), called on all e-cigarette merchants to register their businesses to avoid more serious consequences in the future, including criminal charges of tax evasion.

The Bureau of Commerce earlier filed tax evasion cases worth more than one billion pesos against five major e-cigarette importers and distributors in the Ministry of Justice.

Electronic cigarette products include vaporized nicotine and non-nicotine, new tobacco and its devices, which are available on various electronic market platforms and social media websites.

According to the Tax Regulations No. 14-2022, the first offender will be fined 2 million pesos and can be sentenced to up to two years in prison. The second violation will be punished with 4 million and up to 4 years in prison, and the third violation will be punished with 5 million and 6 years in prison.

If the offender is an alien, he will be deported immediately after serving his sentence.