CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY (PIA) — The Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) Revenue Region (RR)-16 has intensified its enforcement efforts against illicit tobacco and excisable goods, safeguarding consumers from the dangers of counterfeit products.
Through targeted operations, it has successfully seized P15.4 million worth of contraband items, including 152,000 packs of cigarettes and 752 vapor product pods.
These illicit goods often contain harmful chemicals and substances that can pose serious health risks to consumers. This initiative also promotes fairness for legitimate businesses that adhere to tax laws and regulations.
“The collection of the BIR is more on voluntary compliance. Only about two to three percent comes from enforcement activities. We will resort to enforcement activities if we find out that the voluntary compliance of any taxpayers is not improving,” said BIR Revenue Region-16 Asst. Regional Director Helen Abellanosa during the Kapihan sa Bagong Pilipinas on October 8.
Abellanosa also shared that it has successfully collected over P13.1 billion from January to August 2024, surpassing its previous year’s collection by approximately 12.37 percent. She is optimistic about further improving RR16 performance from September to December. (APB/PIA-10)
