Managing electronic stamps for domestically produced cigarettes and alcohol products to prevent revenue loss

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The General Department of Taxation requires strict management of electronic stamps for cigarettes and alcohol products. Photo: Internet

Many unlabeled products are widely sold on the market

The General Department of Taxation said that following Circular No. 23/2021/TT-BTC of the Ministry of Finance guiding the printing, issuance, management and use of electronic stamps for alcohol products and cigarette, the General Department of Taxation issued Decision No. 568/QD/TCT dated April 25, 2022 on the process of managing electronic stamps for alcohol products and cigarette for domestic consumption and developed an electronic stamp application to apply the electronic stamp management nationwide from January 1, 2022.

Organizations and individuals licensed for producing alcohol products and cigarettes for domestic consumption have registered the using of electronic stamps since the beginning of July 2022 in accordance with regulations.

After nearly two years of implementation, tax management has achieved many important results such as: modernizing the search, management and use of electronic stamps on the application and website of the General Department of Taxation; convenient in inspection because electronic stamps contains electronic data, are easily recognizable with the naked eye and is highly anti-counterfeit; improving effectiveness,

In addition, electronic stamp data is exploited and searched through QR codes to both serve consumers and businesses.

However, the General Department of Taxation also said that through a survey of the management and use of electronic stamps for alcohol and tobacco products, there are still some limitations. Specifically, there are many products, especially handmade wine, that are publicly sold on the market without registration or labeling.

The main reason is because the coordination between local industry levels and tax authorities in reviewing actual production activities and licensing management to identify organizations and individuals using stamps is not serious and frequent; there is a lack of a regulation to advise the provincial and municipal People's Committees on synchronous solutions for managing and using electronic stamps for alcohol and tobacco production activities.

The communication work has neither been focused nor influenced the sense of compliance of manufactures of alcohol and tobacco products, as well as the rights and responsibility of consumers, people, and authorities, agencies and units in the area in using stamped products according to regulations.

Strictly managing electronic stamps for cigarettes and alcohol products

To further improve the efficiency in managing electronic stamps for alcohol and tobacco products produced and consumed domestically, contributing to managing consumption output, preventing revenue loss, and increasing revenue for the State budget, the General Department of Taxation has just sent an official dispatch to the Tax Departments of provinces and centrally-run cities requesting to strengthen solutions for managing electronic stamps of domestically produced cigarettes and alcohol products.

Accordingly, the General Department of Taxation requests the Directors of local Tax Departments to report, advise, and request the local People's Committees to direct the People's Committees of districts, local agencies and business associations, and cooperative alliances to closely coordinate with tax authorities to continue to guide the strict management of electronic stamps for cigarettes and alcohol products in their area according to Circular No. 23/2021/TT -BTC.

At the same time, strengthening inspection and control of production and business activities, products displayed for sale and circulation in their area.

The General Department of Taxation assigns local tax departments to take the lead in advising the People's Committees to establish a Steering Committee for management of electronic stamps, contributing to preventing tax loss in their area. ​

In cases where a locality already has a State Budget Revenue Steering Committee, it is proposed to add positions and works to the committee and it is not necessary to establish a separate Steering committee.

The existing Steering Committee needs to include representatives from the Department of Industry and Trade, Market Surveillance Department, Department of Statistics, Department of Finance, Police, Customs, Border Guard, Coast Guard, Inspectorate, and Chairman of People's Committees at all level.

At the same time, promulgating a coordination regulation clearly defining responsibilities at levels and sectors; objectives, time; method of coordination.

The coordination regulation also clearly state the content of coordination, handling violations and exchanging and reviewing information about: number of manufactures, production time and scale, design, packaging, registration of OCOP products, actual capacity and output of production and consumption, guiding manufacturers to commit to stamping 100% of alcohol and tobacco products in accordance with regulations; summarizing and evaluating annual emulation and rewards; and directing all levels and agencies to strengthen inspection and sanction violations of stamping on alcohol and tobacco products.

The General Department of Taxation also assigned the Tax Departments to advise the local People's Committees to assign the Department of Industry and Trade to preside over issuing documents directing the review of all alcohol and tobacco production establishments in their area and work with the Tax Departments and agencies to review, synthesize and evaluate the current status of production and business licensing work, registration and using of electronic stamps; tax registration, declaration and payment.