FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
July 2, 2007

FOR INFORMATION CONTACT:
Douglas A. Ewald, State Tax Commissioner
402/471-5604
Rick Willis, Taxpayer Services Manager
402/471-5807

TAX COMMISSIONER ANNOUNCES CIGARETTE TAX BILLS TO BE MAILED

LINCOLN —Today State Tax Commissioner Doug Ewald announced that if you have been purchasing cigarettes from an Internet or mail order company, you may be receiving a tax bill from the Nebraska Department of Revenue in the next few days.

This tax bill represents the cigarette tax and state/local consumer’s use tax, as well as applicable penalty and interest, for purchases of cigarettes where the proper tax was not paid. Commissioner Ewald explained that like most other purchases made over the Internet or via mail order, if the proper tax is not collected by the seller, the tax is still owed by the purchaser.

Commissioner Ewald further explained that information pertaining to these particular cigarette purchases is provided to the Department as required by the federal Jenkins Act. This Act requires anyone who sells and ships cigarettes into any state to report those sales to each state monthly. Unfortunately, most Internet or mail order cigarette vendors/sellers do not notify their customers of their requirement to pay the cigarette tax and use tax on these purchases. This does not, however, relieve the purchaser from paying the tax.

For more detailed information regarding these assessments, or for the applicable tax returns to report and pay taxes on Internet or mail order cigarettes or other purchases, see the Department’s web site at www.revenue.ne.gov.

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APPROVED:
Douglas A. Ewald
State Tax Commissioner