TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Director General of Customs and Excise of the Ministry of Finance Heru Pambudi said that the technical regulations on electric cigarette excise tax will be issued immediately. The regulations will also include excise from other tobacco processing products, such as e-cigarette, liquid vape, and also chewing tobacco. "The regulation will come out this mid-month," he said, in Jakarta, Monday, January 8, 2018.

The amount of excise duty for electric cigarettes or known as vape is 57 percent and will be implemented on July 1, 2018. "People have 5-6 months to prepare everything, both from business and administration side," he said.

Heru specifies the contents of the regulation, including the procedure of excise collection and administration payment, and will be poured in the form of Regulation of Director General of Customs and Excise.

Heru asserted that the imposition of excise for electric cigarettes will be charged to the liquids that contain tobacco. Other than that, it does not belong as the excise object. "We will oversee it just like cigarette taxes, and we are also ready to follow up the regulation." He explained, in recent years, his side noted that there is an increase action in excise taxes against illegal cigarette cases.

"So this intensive action also expected to suppress the circulation of illegal cigarettes," he said.
Heru hopes that business certainty will also be created, as well as the benefit of avoiding the public from the consumption of illegally taxable goods. In 2014, the Directorate General of Customs and Excise has conducted 901 enforcement, followed by 2012 with 1,232 enforcement, by 2016 reaching 2,374 enforcement, and last September 2017 of 2,843 enforcement.

Head of Public Relations Association of Vaporizer Indonesia (APVI) Rhomedal said his side welcomes the tax imposition plan for electric cigarettes. However, AVPI asks the government to reconsider the amount of excise which is imposed, not to be as high as 57 percent as it determined. "The amount of 57 percent is the same as cigarette taxes, but vape is not the same as cigarettes, there are different rules and materials," he said.

GHOIDA RAHMAH