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Business Taxes Law Guide—Revision 2024
Cigarette and Tobacco Products Tax Regulations
Title 18. Public Revenues
Division 2. California Department of Tax and Fee Administration — Business Taxes (State Board of Equalization — Business Taxes — See Chapters 6 and 9.9)
Chapter 9. Cigarette and Tobacco Products Tax Law Regulations
Article 11. Refunds for Stamps and Meter Impressions
Regulation 4061
Regulation 4061. Unused Stamps.
Reference: Sections 30162 and 30176, Revenue and Taxation Code.
(a) The Department will refund or credit to a distributor the denominated value, less the purchase discount, of any identifiable unused stamps which are returned to the Department.
The distributor must file a claim for refund or credit with the Department. The claim must be signed by the claimant or the claimant’s representative and include the following information:
(1) The distributor’s name, account number, address, and telephone number;
(2) The date of the claim;
(3) The specific grounds upon which the claim is based;
(4) The date, district office, number, and type of unused stamps being claimed for refund;
(5) The amount of claim for each type of unused stamp being claimed for refund;
(6) The total amount of the claim less the discount allowed under Revenue and Taxation Code section 30166; and
(7) Documentation required to support the claim.
The Department will verify the amount of unused stamps being claimed for refund and provide a certification to the distributor of the amount of unused stamps that have been verified by the Department. A claim shall only be granted with respect to the verified amount of unused stamps included in the claim.
"Unused stamp" means a cigarette tax stamp on a tax stamp roll that has not been affixed to a package of cigarettes. If the stamp is of a design generated by a technology capable of being read by a scanning or similar device, a majority of the stamp must be present and should be able to be read by a scanning or similar device in accordance with Revenue and Taxation Code section 30162.
(c) Upon verification that the refund or credit is due, the tax stamp roll containing the unused stamps shall be returned to the Department for destruction.
History—Adopted June 24, 1959.
Amended August 3, 1960.
Amended September 13, 1961.
Amended January 12, 1968.
Amended August 1, 2001, effective June 12, 2002. Added reference to Form BOE-1024 and subdivisions (b), (c) and (d).
Amended November 15, 2005, effective March 9, 2006. Added new language in subdivision (b), "If the stamp is of a design generated by a technology capable of being read by a scanning or similar device, a majority of the stamp must be present and should be able to be read by a scanning or similar device in accordance with Section 30162. Alternatively, as evidence of unused stamps, a distributor may return damaged stamps in such a form that a board representative is otherwise able to verify authenticity and that the stamps have not been used," to define and describe the criteria for when the new tax stamp, designed in accordance with Revenue and Taxation Code section 30162, will qualify as an unused stamp.
"and Unused Meter Settings" from the end of the regulation’s title; revised subdivision (a) to replace "board" with "Department" in two places in the first paragraph and replace the second paragraph, which provided, "The board will refund or credit to a distributor the denominated value, less the purchase discount, of any verifiable meter setting remaining on a meter when the meter is returned to the bank for cancellation of the meter setting. A claim for refund or credit must be made on Board of Equalization Form BOE-1024 entitled ‘Claim For Refund For California Cigarette Tax Stamps’ and filed with the board, providing the following information: distributor’s name, account number, address, telephone number, date, district office, number and type of cigarette tax stamps being claimed for refund, amount of claim for each type of cigarette tax stamp being claimed for refund, total amount of claim discount of .0085, and reason for claim. The form further requires acknowledgement by a board representative and his or her supervisor of receipt of the cigarette tax stamps being claimed for refund and certification by a board representative of the receipt and destruction of the cigarette tax stamps being claimed for refund"; revised subdivision (b) to insert "cigarette" and replace "or on a package of cigarettes which is not yet distributed and includes only those stamps on which 4 of the 5 characters of the stamp’s serial number can be identified" with "that has not been affixed to a package of cigarettes" in the first sentence, delete the second and third sentences, which provided, "If fewer than 4 characters in the stamp’s serial number can be identified, the distributor shall provide evidence concerning the remainder of the tax stamp to show that the remainder of the stamp is not affixed to a package of cigarettes that has been distributed. Such proof may include, but is not limited to, the paper from the stamp roll or package of cigarettes to which the remainder of the stamp is affixed," replace "Section" with "Revenue and Taxation Code section," and delete the last sentence, which provided, "Alternatively, as evidence of unused stamps, a distributor may return damaged stamps in such a form that a board representative is otherwise able to verify authenticity and that the stamps have not been used"; delete subdivision (c), which provided, "If the refund or credit is for tax stamps that are affixed to packages of cigarettes, an authorized board employee, upon verification that the refund or credit is due, shall ensure that the distributor obliterated the stamp with the use of a permanent marker"; renumbered old subdivision (d) as subdivision (c); revised renumbered subdivision (c) to replace "If the refund or credit is for tax stamps remaining on a roll, upon" with "Upon," add "tax stamp" and "containing the unused stamps," and replace "board" with "Department"; and added references to Government Code sections 15570.22 and 15570.24 to the regulation’s authority note.