App aids tax compliance

Smokers in the Philippines can now install an app on their smartphones to determine if taxes have been paid on their cigarettes, reports The Philippine Star.

The app was developed by IRSIS Corp., a joint venture of four information technology firms, granted the contract to supply the tobacco stamps in 2013 to track down illegal cigarettes.

By law, the Philippines Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) is required to install stamps on all locally sold cigarettes to ensure manufacturers have paid excise taxes. Those for export does not bear the stamp.

Each stamp has a unique identifier code (UIC) which the mobile app could scan and verify, the BIR said.

Internal Revenue commissioner Kim Henares is urging the public to report to the BIR if they find an invalid UIC on their cigarettes so that a probe may be conducted.

Cigarette excise taxes account for around 80 percent of total state revenues in the Philippines. In the first two months of the year, tobacco taxes generated PHP10.86 billion ($231 million), up 10.86 percent from the same period last year.