Tax-stamp roll-out deferred

The government of the Philippines has postponed until next year the release of newly-designed cigarette-pack tax stamps because it is still working on enhancing their security features, according to a story in The Philippine Star quoting the Department of Finance (DOF).

In an interview with the Star, Finance Undersecretary Antonette Tionko said the government had moved its deadline for the roll-out of the stamps to January 2018 from the original target of November this year. This was because the security features were still being ‘tweaked’.

Meanwhile, Teresita Angeles, the Bureau of Internal Revenue’s assistant commissioner and officer in charge of the Large Taxpayers Service, said the security features of the new stamps were still being ‘enhanced and tested’.

The Star story said the ‘cost’ of the stamps would increase from P0.13 per piece to about P0.15 per piece.

The Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez was quoted as saying that the government had set out to redesign the tax stamps because their security features had been compromised by counterfeiters.

He said the new stamps would help curb smuggling and plug the revenue leakages caused by the proliferation of fake tax stamps.