The Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) is set to implement its plan to strictly monitor the tax payments of cigarette and liquor companies.

Finance undersecretary Gil Beltran said the government would soon bid out the contract to provide the technology that would enable the BIR to put in place fused-on stamps for cigarettes and liquor products. Beltran said the move is to ensure that cigarette and liquor companies are paying the right amount of excise taxes.
The BIR affixes these fused-on stamps on packages containing cigarettes and alcoholic beverages to monitor the production of these products and thereby compute the manufacturer’s excise tax liabilities.
As part of the plan, Beltran said, the BIR would also intensify the monitoring of cigarette and liquor firms’ manufacturing facilities. The BIR will increase the number of the so-called “revenue officers on premises”, or “ROOPs”, to double check whether cigarettes and liquor products manufacturers are paying the right amount of excise taxes. (sra)