The Bali Customs and Excise Office has managed to crack down on the counterfeit of excise seals on cigarette and alcohol products, which last year caused losses to the state totalling Rp 4.8 billion.
During last year, there were 10 attempts of counterfeiting excise labels foiled by the Bali and Nusa Tenggara Customs and Excise Office, said office head Faried Syibli Barchia.
“Seven of the cases involved cigarette companies, while the other three involved alcohol producers,” Faried said during a press conference Thursday.
“These practices are estimated to have caused Rp 4.8 billion of losses to the state because the cigarette and alcoholic drink companies evade excise and value added tax.”
The office confiscated more than 60,000 bottles of various alcoholic drinks, mostly wine, and boxes of cigarettes, he said.
Faried said the products sealed with fake labels were brought by distributors from Jakarta and Surabaya.
Director of Excise with the Directorate General of Customs and Excise in Jakarta, Frans Rupang, said the country had lost about Rp 120 billion during last year, due to counterfeited excise labels and evasion of tax on cigarettes and alcoholic drinks.
There are around 1,000 cases last year, mostly on alcohol products, he said. “We have found cigarettes and liquor being sold using counterfeit excise seals — some bearing no seals at all — as well as products with inappropriate seals,” he said.
“The counterfeiting mostly involved small-scale cigarette producers, mostly located in Central Java and East Java province.”
It is estimated that there are between 3,700 and 3,800 cigarette producers in the country, the largest number worldwide.
Frans said it was difficult for the customs and excise office to police all producers due to the limited number of officers.
He cited the office only deployed 30 officers to monitor cigarette producers in seven cities in East Java.
In an attempt to minimize counterfeiting practices, the Directorate General of Customs and Excise Office on Thursday announced it had released a new style of excise label. “We change the label design every year to prevent it from being copied. We also disseminate the information to law enforcers and related stakeholders, such as restaurant and hotel owners, to help foil counterfeit offenses,” Frans said.
The new labels will include information on how to distinguish counterfeited labels.
This year, the government is aiming to reap Rp 57.2 trillion in excise revenue, up from Rp 56.4 trillion last year. Out of the last year’s revenue, 96 percent came from cigarette companies.
Excise revenue is the country’s second biggest tax revenue after value added tax. “Therefore, we are [trying] to optimize excise revenue by minimizing counterfeiting practice and tax evasion,” Frans said.
