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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 16. Payment by Consumer or User
Regulation 4091
Regulation 4091. Payment by Consumer.
Reference: Sections 30005, 30005.5, 30106, 30107, 30108 and 30187, Revenue and Taxation Code.
(a) Each consumer or user of cigarettes or tobacco products subject to the cigarette and tobacco products taxes is liable for the taxes, resulting from the consumer having:
(1) Purchased cigarettes or tobacco products in any quantity, when such cigarettes or tobacco products are shipped to the consumer from out of state;
(2) Personally transported or brought into the state untaxed tobacco products in any quantity or untaxed cigarettes in quantities of more than 400 cigarettes in a single lot; or
(3) Obtained more than 400 untaxed cigarettes at one time from a federal instrumentality listed in Revenue and Taxation Code section 30102.
(b) A consumer must pay the cigarette and tobacco products taxes either to the licensed or registered distributor under the Cigarette and Tobacco Products Tax Law from whom the cigarettes or tobacco products were purchased, or directly to the Department if the person from whom the cigarettes or tobacco products were purchased is not a licensed or registered distributor. A person who pays the taxes directly to the Department must file a return with the Department that contains the following information regarding each purchase:
(1) The brand name of each product purchased;
(2) The type of each product purchased (i.e., cigarettes, cigars, pipe tobacco, e-cigarettes or e-liquid containing nicotine);
(3) Seller’s name, and email address or phone number;
(4) Invoice date for the purchase;
(5) Total number of cigarette sticks purchased and;
(6) Cost of tobacco products purchased.
(c) A consumers or user will be liable for payment of the cigarette and tobacco products taxes to the Department, unless a receipt is obtained for payment of the taxes to the licensed or registered distributor from whom the cigarettes or tobacco products were purchased that satisfies the requirements of Regulation 4092.
History—Adopted June 24, 1959.
Amended September 13, 1961.
Amended October 10, 1968, effective November 13, 1968.
Amended November 5, 1970, effective December 10, 1970.
Amended September 26, 2001, effective February 15, 2002. Added references to tobacco products and removed gender-specific language. Divided regulation into subdivisions (a), (a)(1), (a)(2), (a)(3) and (b). In subdivision (a)(1), replace "which" with "when such", in subdivision (a)(2), changed "his having himself transported" to "personally transported", and in subdivision (a)(3), removed "having" before "obtained", and added "A person who pays the … and cost of tobacco products received". Deleted references to (a) and (b) at end of subdivision (a) and added "either" before "to the licensed or registered distributor".
Amended December 27, 2021, effective December 27, 2021. The amendments added a period after "30102," reformatted the rest of subdivision (a)(3) and the second sentence in subdivision (a) as subdivision (b), and renumbered old subdivision (b) as subdivision (c); replaced "tax" and the comma after tax with "cigarette and tobacco products taxes is liable for the taxes" in subdivision (a); replaced "p" with "P" in "purchased" and replaced a comma with a semi-colon in subdivision (a)(1); added "untaxed tobacco products in any quantity or" to and deleted "for his or her own use or consumption” from after "lot,” replaced "p" with "P" in "personally," and replaced the comma with a semi-colon in subdivision (a)(2); replaced "o" with "O" in "obtained" in subdivision (a)(3); revised renumbered subdivision (b) to add "A consumer" and "cigarette and tobacco products," replace "tax" with "taxes" in two places, replace "board" with "Department" in two places, replace "certified Board of Equalization Form BOE-501-CI entitled ‘Cigarette and Tobacco Products Excise Tax Return,’" with "return … purchase:," and replace "and report the brand name, seller’s name, seller’s internet address or phone number, date received, and number of cartons or type and cost of tobacco products received" with new subdivisions (b)(1) through (6); revised renumbered subdivision (c) to replace "Consumers" with "A consumer," the first "tax" with "cigarette and tobacco products taxes," "board" with "Department," "receipts as provided by Regulation 4902 are" with "a receipt is," and the second "tax" with "taxes," delete "s" from the end of "users," and add "licensed or registered" and "from … 4092"; added references to Government Code sections 15570.22 and 15570.24 to the regulation’s authority note; and added a reference to Revenue and Taxation Code section 30187 to the regulation’s reference note.