Cigarette and Tobacco Products Online Glossary

A compilation of cigarette, Internet, and online filing terms provided for reference.

A

Account Number: The number assigned by the CDTFA to identify licensed persons for a tax or licensing fee program. A person may have multiple accounts with the CDTFA based on their business activities.
Acknowledgment: The CDTFA acknowledges the receipt of every electronic tax form. These tax forms are filed using Extensible Markup Language (XML) or the CDTFA FLT file format.
Air Common Carrier: A common carrier by air engaged in the business of transporting persons or property for hire or compensation under a certificate of public convenience and necessity issued pursuant to the authority of the laws of this state, of the United States, or of any foreign government.
ANSI (American National Standards Institute): Founded in 1918 as a nonprofit organization chartered to coordinate and maintain national standards in the United States.
Approved Products: Cigarette tax products that have been approved by the Attorney General to be stamped, sold, offered for sale, possessed for sale, or imported for personal consumption within the State of California.
Attorney General (AG): The Attorney General represents the people of California in civil and criminal matters before trial courts, appellate courts and the supreme courts of California and the United States.
Authentication: Authentication enables the receiver to verify the source of a message and verify that it has not been changed after having been signed.

B

Brand: A distinctive name identifying a cigarette product (for example, Marlboro, Camel, etc.).
Business Name: The name of the business completing the tax form. This should agree with the name registered with the CDTFA and the account number assigned by the CDTFA.
Buyer's Account: The CDTFA account number for the business purchasing or receiving the product.
Buyer's Name: The name of the business purchasing or receiving the product.

C

Carton: Container that holds packs of cigarettes.
Case: Container that holds cartons of cigarettes.
CDTFA-501-CD: See Cigarette Distributor/Importer Tax Report.
CDTFA-501-CM: See Cigarette Manufacturer's Tax Return of Taxable Distributions in California.
CDTFA-501-CW: See Cigarette Wholesaler's Report.
CDTFA-5204-PA-1, California Cigarette PACT Act Report: This form is used to report the purchaser's name, address, total price, brand family, invoice date, invoice number, carton Universal Product Code (UPC), quantity sold, total sticks of cigarettes sold, and delivery service information.
CDTFA-5204-PA-2, California Tobacco PACT Act Report: This form is used to report the purchaser's name, address, type of tobacco product, brand family, invoice date, invoice number, quantity, total weight, retail sales price, manufacturer or wholesale list price, and delivery service information.
CDTFA-5204-PA-3, California Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems (ENDS) PACT Act Report: This form is used to report the purchaser's name, address, type of ENDS, brand family, invoice date, invoice number, Universal Product Code (UPC), quantity, retail sales price, and manufacturer or wholesale list price information.
CDTFA-810-CTC: See Postal Abbreviation Table.
CDTFA-810-CTE: See Instructions for Preparing Cigarette Tax Schedules.
CDTFA-810-CTF: See Cigarette Tax Disbursement Schedule.
CDTFA-810-CTI: See Cigarette Tax Receipt Schedule.
CDTFA-1071: See Cigarette Common Carrier's Report of Cigarette Deliveries of Interstate or Foreign Shipments of Cigarettes Destined for California Points.
CDTFA Cigarette Tax or Tobacco Products FLT File Specifications: This includes the file map, field requirements, and specifications that a Schedule/Transaction File must meet in order to be accepted.
Cigarette: Any roll for smoking, made wholly or in part of tobacco, irrespective of size or shape and irrespective of whether the tobacco is flavored, adulterated or mixed with any other ingredient, where such roll has a wrapper or cover made of paper or any other material, except where such wrapper is wholly or in the greater part made of tobacco and such roll weighs more than three pounds per thousand.
Cigarette Distributor: A person who makes the first distribution of cigarettes in this state. Distribution includes the sale of untaxed cigarettes, the use or consumption of untaxed cigarettes, and the placing of untaxed cigarettes into a vending machine or retail stock in this state.
Cigarette Distributor/Importer Tax Report (CDTFA-501-CD): This report allows cigarette distributors/importers to report receipt, distribution, and inventory information. Every distributor is required to keep daily records of the number of tax stamps used in their affixing operations. Distribution includes the sale of untaxed cigarettes, the use or consumption of untaxed cigarettes, and the placing of untaxed cigarettes into a vending machine or retail stock in this state. Sale of cigarettes from one distributor to another distributor is taxable. An appropriate stamp shall be affixed to packages of cigarettes sold to another distributor in this state.
Cigarette Manufacturer: A person that manufactures cigarettes sold in this state.
Cigarette Manufacturer's Tax Return of Taxable Distributions in California (CDTFA-501-CM): This return allows cigarette manufacturers to report distributions of unstamped cigarettes as samples given away by manufacturers' agents or representatives and to report all distributions on the schedules identified.
Cigarette Tax Disbursement Schedule (CDTFA-810-CTF): The schedule that enables the reporting of disbursement transactions using a tax jurisdiction code (TJC) to identify the type of activity being reported.
Cigarette Tax Receipt Schedule (CDTFA-810-CTI): The schedule that enables the reporting of receipt transactions by tax jurisdiction code (TJC).
Cigarette Tax Stamp: Indicia of payment of tax, as required by Section 30161 in the Cigarette and Tobacco Products Tax Law, including, but not limited to, stamps, meter impressions, or any other indicia developed using current technology.
Cigarette Wholesaler: A person, other than a licensed distributor, who sells taxed (stamped) cigarettes obtained from a licensed distributor or another licensed wholesaler for resale.
Cigarette Wholesaler's Report: This report allows cigarette wholesalers to report purchases of taxed (stamped) cigarettes and inventory information.
Common Carrier: Any person (other than a local messenger service or the United States Postal Service) that holds itself out to the general public as a provider for hire of the transportation of merchandise by water, land, or air (regardless of whether the person actually operates the vessel, vehicle, or aircraft by which the transportation is provided) between a port or place and a port or place in the United States.
Common Carrier's Report of Cigarette Deliveries of Interstate or Foreign Shipments of Cigarettes Destined for California Points: This report allows a common carrier to report deliveries of shipments of cigarettes originating outside of California to a consignee in California.
Component: A piece of software, program, dynamic link library, or shared library covering a single or multiple tasks, normally covering a whole functional aspect of a system.
Consignor: A person who hires a carrier to transport product.
Consumer: A consumer is any person who purchases cigarettes, smokeless tobacco products, or electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS). This does not include any person lawfully operating as a manufacturer, distributor, wholesaler, or retailer of cigarettes, smokeless tobacco products, or ENDS.
Customer: A taxpayer who has registered with the CDTFA to electronically submit their returns, reports, schedules or payments using the online services functionality on the CDTFA's website.

D

Data Segment: A data segment is an intermediate unit of information in a transaction set. A segment consists of logically related data elements in a defined sequence.
Data Set: The term used to describe the electronic equivalent of a paper document (tax return, information report, etc.).
Declaration of Intent to File Online: A declaration of understanding by you to accept the rules and responsibilities of filing online.
Decryption: Reverse application of an encryption algorithm to encrypted data, thereby restoring those data to their original, unencrypted state. See also Encryption.
Delimiter: A character that separates elements. A delimiter tells the computer where one element ends and the next one begins.
Delivery Sale: Any sale where the consumer orders by telephone or other method of voice transmission, mail, Internet or other online service, or if the seller is otherwise not in the physical presence of the buyer when the request for purchase or order is made.
Delivery Seller: A person who makes delivery sales.
Delivery Service: The delivery service information at the bottom of the CDTFA-810-CTF, Cigarette Tax Disbursement Schedule; is used to identify the delivery service for delivery sales by a delivery seller.
Destination City: The city to which the product was delivered.
Destination Country: The country to which the product was delivered.
Destination State: Any state or territory to which the product was delivered.
Destination Street: The street address to which the product was delivered.
Destination Zip: The five digit zip code to which the product was delivered.
Distribution: Distribution includes the sale of untaxed cigarettes/tobacco products, the use or consumption of untaxed cigarettes/tobacco products, and the placement of untaxed cigarettes/tobacco products into a vending machine or retail stock.
Distributor: A distributor is a person who makes the first distribution of cigarettes/tobacco products in this state.
Document/BOL Date: The date associated with the document/bill of lading (BOL) number.
Document/BOL Number: The bill of lading (BOL) number, the manifest number, or the invoice number for the shipment.
DTM (Date/Time Reference): The segment that is used to carry a date in YYYYMMDD format (Year, Month, Day). This segment is used to report data elements such as the period begin and end dates, beginning and ending inventory date, transaction dates or shipping document date, and invoice date.

E

EIN (Employer Identification Number): A nine-digit number that the IRS assigns in the following format: 00-0000000. However, for employee plans, an alpha character (for example, P) or the plan number for example, 003) may follow the EIN. The IRS uses the number to identify taxpayers who are required to file various business tax returns. EINs are used by employers, sole proprietors, corporations, partnerships, nonprofit associations, trusts, estates of decedents, government agencies, certain individuals, and other business entities.
Electronic File Testing: The process by which you and the CDTFA verify that you are capable of generating and submitting a valid electronic file.
Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems (ENDS): Any electronic device that delivers nicotine, flavor, or any other substance to the user inhaling from the device. ENDS include: eCigarettes, vape pens, eHookas, eCigars, advanced refillable personal vaporizers, electronic pipes, and any component, liquid, part, or accessory of an ENDS device without regard to whether the component, liquid, part, or accessory is sold separately from the device. ENDS do not include a product that is approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for sale as a tobacco cessation product or any other therapeutic purpose and marketed and sold solely for this purpose.
Encryption: The application of a specific algorithm to data so as to alter the appearance of the data making it incomprehensible to those who are not authorized to see the information. See also Decryption.
Envelope: The control structure of the electronic file. It encloses the electronic message.

F

FEIN (Federal Employer Identification Number): See EIN.
Filing Format Identifier Record Type: The first Record Type in the FLT file formatting map. This record type identifies the FLT file and the FLT file format version.
Flat (FLT) File: The term is frequently used to describe a text document from which all word processing or other structure characters or markup have been removed. The CDTFA-required form of FLT file is one in which table data is gathered in lines of ASCII text with the value from each table cell separated by a tab and each row represented with a new line. This type of FLT file is also known as a tab-delimited flat file. The text file submitted with an online filing. Also known as a Schedule/Transaction file.
FLT File Specifications: The file structure and field requirements for reporting using a FLT file.
FTP (File Transmission Protocol): A standard Internet protocol to exchange files on top of TCP/IP. FTP is used, among other things, to download programs and other files to your computer from other servers.

G

H

I

Importer: Any purchaser for resale in the United States of cigarettes/tobacco products manufactured outside of the United States.
“In this State” or “in the state:” These terms mean within the exterior limits of the State of California and includes all territory within these limits owned by or ceded to the United States of America.
Interstate Commerce (For PACT Act Only): The term “interstate commerce” includes commerce between any place in a state and any place outside of that state, commerce between a state and Indian country in the state, or commerce between points in the same state but through any place outside of the state or through any Indian country. The term “state” includes the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and the possessions of the United States.
Inventory: The quantity of product in storage as measured on a particular date at a particular time.

J

K

L

M

Manufacturer: A manufacturer of cigarettes or tobacco products sold in this state, and who is licensed by the CDTFA.
Mapping: Mapping, in online filing terms, is the association of data field contents from an internal computer application, such as a cigarette sales system, to the field contents in the online filing standard being used. The same mapping takes place in reverse during the receipt of an electronic document.
Master Settlement Agreement (MSA): The settlement agreement and related documents entered into on November 23, 1998, by the State and leading United States cigarette and tobacco product manufacturers.
Mode Code: An alphabetic code used to identify the method of transport utilized to move product from its origin to its destination.

N

Non-Participating Manufacturer (NPM): Any cigarette and/or tobacco product manufacturer who is not a signatory to the Master Settlement Agreement (MSA).

O

Online Services: Online services provided by the CDTFA to the taxpayer such as the ability to file their returns, make payments, or register for an account online.
Origin City: The city from which the product originated.
Origin Country: The country from which the product originated.
Origin State: Any state, territory, foreign country, or sovereign nation from which the product originated.
Origin Street: The street address of the location from which the product originated.
Origin Zip: The ZIP code from which the product originated.

P

Pack: A container that holds cigarettes.
Package: Individual packet, box or other container in which retail sales of cigarettes are normally made or intended to be made. “Package” does not include such containers as cartons, cases, bales or boxes which contain smaller packaging units of cigarettes.
Participating Manufacturer (PM): Any cigarette and/or tobacco product manufacturer that is or becomes a signatory to the Master Settlement Agreement (MSA).
Postal Abbreviation Table (CDTFA-810-CTC): Lists the U.S. states, U.S. territories, Mexican states, Canadian provinces, countries, and their respective abbreviations.
Person: (a) Any individual, firm, trust, estate, partnership, association, social club, fraternal organization, joint stock company, joint venture, business trust, syndicate, corporation, or limited liability company; (b) a receiver, trustee, or guardian or other representative appointed by order of any court; (c) the United States, this state, any county, city and county, municipality, district, or other political subdivision of the state; (d) or any other group or combination acting as a unit.
Processing Interruption: An abnormal termination of a program run caused by the electronic data submitted by you when filing online.
Production “Actual” File: An online file submission of a tax form as a valid filing for a specific reporting period. Production files are identified with a “P” flag.

Q

Quantity: The number of cases, cartons, packs, or cigarettes received or distributed.

R

S

Sale: Any transfer of title or possession for a consideration, exchange or barter, in any manner or by any means.
Samples: The giving away of packages of cigarettes without stamps or meter impressions affixed to the packages, or untaxed tobacco products. Each package of such samples shall have imprinted on it: “Not for Sale. Applicable state tax has been paid,” and shall be clearly marked as a sample.
Schedule Code: The alphanumeric number used to identify the type of cigarette tax schedule. Schedule code “1C” is for the Cigarette Tax Receipt Schedule (CDTFA-810-CTI). Schedule code “2C” is for the Cigarette Tax Disbursement Schedule (CDTFA-810-CTF).
Seller Account: The CDTFA account number for the business selling or disbursing the product.
Seller Name: The name of the business selling or disbursing the product.
SSN (Social Security Number): A 9-digit identification number used to identify individuals. The SSN can be used if the person does not have an EIN.
Stamp Affixed: A pack of cigarettes to which a tax stamp has been affixed.
Stamp Unaffixed: A pack of cigarettes to which a tax stamp has not been affixed.
Stamps and Meter Impressions: (a) Indicia of payment of tax, as required by Revenue and Taxation Code section 30161, including, but not limited to, stamps, meter impressions, or any other indicia developed using current technology. (b) The CDTFA shall prescribe and approve the types of stamps and meter impressions, and the methods of applying stamps and meter impressions to packages of cigarettes.
Supplemental Participating Manufacturer: A Participating Manufacturer who signed the Master Settlement Agreement (MSA) after the MSA had been enacted.
Syntax: The rules governing the structuring of the user data and of associated data in the electronic file.

T

Tax Form: A generic term for any cigarette/tobacco products tax return or information report.
Tax Jurisdiction Code (TJC): The alphanumeric code used to identify the activity being reported.
Trailer: The portion of the message that follows the header and the body of the business transaction.
Transaction: The collective information used to describe a single receipt or disbursement of product.
Schedule/Transaction Template: An Excel workbook utilized to automate the creation of a FLT file based on the schedule information provided.
Transaction Set (TS): The term used in electronic data interchange to describe a single document or report. The data included in a transaction set will convey the same information as a conventional paper document.
Transporter: (a) Any person transporting into or within this state any of the following: (1) Cigarettes not contained in packages to which are affixed California cigarette tax stamps or meter impressions. (2) Tobacco products upon which the tobacco products surtax imposed by Revenue and Taxation Code Article 2 (commencing with section 30121) and Article 3 (commencing with section 30131) of Chapter 2 has not been paid. (b) “Transporter” shall not include any of the following: (1) A licensed distributor. (2) A common carrier. (3) A person transporting cigarettes and tobacco products under federal internal revenue bond or customs control that are non-tax-paid under Chapter 52 of the Internal Revenue Act of 1954 as amended.

U

Unit of Measure (UOM): A code used to identify the type (for example, cartons) of quantity being reported.
Untaxed Cigarette: Any cigarette which has not yet been distributed in such manner as to result in a tax liability and is not yet stamped.
Universal Product Code (UPC): A numeric identifier unique to a specific brand, variant, and package size of a product. It is commonly represented as a barcode.
Use or Consumption: Includes the exercise of any right or power over cigarettes or tobacco products incident to the ownership thereof, other than the sale of the cigarettes or tobacco products or the keeping or retention thereof by a licensed distributor for the purpose of sale.

V

Variant: The subcategory that differentiates cigarette within a single brand. The name by which most products are known, (for example, Light, Regular, Red, Black, 100's, etc.).

W

Wholesaler: A cigarette wholesaler is a person, other than a licensed cigarette distributor, who sells taxed (stamped) cigarettes, obtained from a licensed distributor or another licensed wholesaler, for resale at a specific California location. A tobacco products wholesaler is a person, other than a licensed tobacco products distributor, who sells tax-paid tobacco products for resale at a specific California location.

X

XML: Extensible Markup Language.
XML Schema: A set of files that specify the file data structure and field requirements for online reporting of tax forms to the CDTFA using a XML file.

Y

Z

Disclaimer: This glossary is not intended to be legal advice and to the extent that the definitions in this glossary conflict with annotations, regulations, or statutes, the legal definitions will control.