HELENA, Mont. -- Montana smokers who buy cigarettes over the Internet to avoid paying state taxes are beginning to find they may have to cough up the tax money anyway, said the Associated Press.
State agencies working with three major Internet tobacco sellers have started sending tax notices in the mail, alerting buyers that they must pay.
What we're trying to do is make sure everybody understands that purchasing cigarettes over the Internet is illegal, and that they owe the tax on those cigarettes, said Gene Huntington, administrator [image-nocss] of the Gambling Control Division in the state Justice Department. And Internet sellers are required to report the names of the people they've sold to.
The state Department of Revenue recently received its first list of names from three major Internet cigarette sellers and mailed bills to 89 buyers across Montana who purchased cigarettes online. It obtained the names from smartsmoker.com, buycheapcigarettes.com and ordersmokesdirect.com.
Information from the three retailers showed more than 1,000 Montanans buying cigarettes illegally between May and November of last year, accounting for $345,000 in unpaid taxes.
Lee Baerlocher, bureau chief of the Revenue Department's Customer Service Center, said the letters went to the biggest buyers, those most likely to be reselling the cigarettes. He also noted that the department has compiled a list of nearly 300 Internet tobacco retailers.
Huntington said the department is cross-referencing the lists of cigarette buyers against the lists of gambling and liquor licensees to determine if any bars or casinos may be reselling tax-free cigarettes.
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