Revised:
3/12/01
TOBACCO T1: What Federal laws does the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) enforce concerning tobacco products? In general, ATF enforces the Chapter
52 of the Internal Revenue Code
(Title 26 of the United States Code) and Chapter
114 of Title 18 of the United States Code.
Chapter 52 of the Internal Revenue Code deals mainly with (1) the Federal
excise taxes
on tobacco
products and cigarette
papers and tubes and (2) other requirements, such as permits required
for engaging in business related to the manufacture,
importation T2: What
are the Federal and State excise taxes imposed on tobacco?
T3: Who can
I contact about a person selling cigarettes or
other tobacco
products that were intended to be given free to customers (for
example, buy one pack and get one free)? T4: Who can
I contact about a person in the United States selling cigarettes or
other tobacco products
that are marked "Tax-exempt. For use outside U.S." or with a similar notice?
T5: What must I
do if I want to start a business that sells, manufactures or imports tobacco?
If you intend to manufacture in
the United States tobacco
products, or cigarette
papers or tubes, then you will have to apply and receive If you intend to engage in the business of importing tobacco products, you will have to apply and receive ATF approval before you engage in business. This requirement is stated in 27 CFR Part 275 (http://www.atf.treas.gov/regulations/27cfr275.pdf). If you need assistance to apply for a Federal permit, you may contact the National Revenue Center, 550 Main St., Cincinnati, OH 45203-3263, by phone 1-800-398-2282 or by e-mail. Other ATF forms may be required and may be available from ATF's web site. Also, you need to find out about customs duties and requirements from U.S. Customs Service (http://www.customs.treas.gov/). Also, you need to contact the State government agencies where you will be selling tobacco products to find out their requirements. However, in general, you cannot import previously exported cigarettes, other tobacco products, cigarette papers or tubes. Refer to ATF Industry Circular 2000-4 for further information. Also, refer to ATF Industry Circular 99-2 about cigarette sales. T6: What must I
do if I want to import tobacco for personal use?
T7: Does
the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) require anything
to sell tobacco products
on the Internet?
State or local law may restrict
tobacco products
or cigarette papers and tubes
sold by e-mail or T8: Does
the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) conduct
studies or
collect information
about the effects of using
tobacco? http://www.whitehouse.gov
T9: How does
ATF inform people of proposed and final changes to the regulations?
When you access the Federal Register online, you can search by subject or use their "Browse Feature," to view the Table of Contents of any recent issue. Using either of these means, you can view a document as either a text file or as a PDF file, using Adobe Acrobat. In addition, we place a copy of these documents on the ATF web site shortly after the Federal Register makes the documents available through their web site. When you access a notice of proposed rulemaking on our website, you will have an opportunity to e-mail a comment to us. As part of publishing a document, the Federal Register places a copy of the manuscript "on file" in their offices the day before it is printed. Members of the public may view the document at that time. Call the Federal Register for details. Their number is (202) 523-5240. T10: Can a business get back the tax money from alcohol or tobacco if the product is destroyed in a disaster such as a fire, earthquake, flood, or tornado? Under certain circumstances the tax money may be refunded for alcohol and tobacco products. See ATF Information sheet I 1200.68 (8-2000). T11: What are tobacco products? Federal law (section 5702(c) of Title 26 of the United States Code) defines tobacco products as cigars, cigarettes, smokeless tobacco, pipe tobacco and roll-your-own tobacco. Smokeless tobacco means any snuff or chewing tobacco. T12: Does the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) regulate the advertising of tobacco products or cigarette papers and tubes? The only law that ATF enforces that relates to advertising of tobacco products and cigarette papers and tubes is a prohibition against lottery features and indecent, immoral picture, print or representation attached to such packages. Refer to section 5723(c) of Title 26 of the United States Code. For advertising in general for such products, the Federal Trade Commission may be helpful. The Federal Trade Commission enforces a variety of federal antitrust and consumer protection laws.
T13: Does the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms enforce the Surgeon General's warning on certain tobacco products? No. The Federal Trade Commission enforces this warning. T14: How does the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) classify a tobacco product commonly referred to as "bidi", "beedi" and "biri." ATF has conducted several examinations of samples of these products in the past. All of the examinations concluded the products contained tobacco and for Federal excise tax purposes were cigarettes. See Revenue Ruling 69-488 (http://www.atf.treas.gov/alcohol/info/revrule/rules/69-488.htm).
|
|||||||