Philippine Department Of Finance: Smuggling Of Electronic Cigarettes Causes Annual Losses Of $300 Million, Proposes Unified Electronic Cigarette Tax

Philippine Department of Finance: Smuggling of Electronic Cigarettes Causes Annual Losses of $300 Million, Proposes Unified Electronic Cigarette Tax

In May, Philippine customs intercepted approximately $14 million worth of illegal tobacco and electronic cigarettes. The Secretary of the Treasury (DOF) responded by stating that up to $300 million is lost annually due to electronic cigarette smuggling cases, and proposed amending the electronic cigarette law and unifying electronic cigarette tax rates.

According to GMA News on November 7th, on May 12th, the Manila International Container Port Customs Authority (BOC-MICP) in the Philippines intercepted three batches of illegal tobacco and electronic cigarette products from Singapore, with a total estimated value of 791 million pesos (approximately 14 million US dollars) (for details, please read: Philippine Customs seized illegal heating tobacco smuggling cases with a total value of 13.71 million US dollars). The Ministry of Finance (DOF) responded to the incident on Thursday (7th), stating that the annual revenue loss due to tobacco and e-cigarette smuggling is as high as 52 billion pesos (900 million US dollars).

During a Senate inquiry on the 2025 budget, Treasury Secretary Ralph Recto stated that "tobacco smuggling costs 35 billion pesos ($600 million), while e-cigarette smuggling costs approximately 17 billion pesos ($300 million)

The initiator of the budget proposal, Senator Grace Poe, added that importers of tobacco and e-cigarette products should first register with the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) and obtain approval stamps before shipping to the Philippines.

In addition to confiscating smuggled tobacco and electronic cigarette products, Rektor pointed out that the Ministry of Finance is planning to propose amendments to the country's electronic cigarette law to eliminate differential treatment of electronic cigarette products and achieve a unified tax rate.