Agency: During the discussions on the tax reforms in Parliament, the National Assembly (NA) recommended that the government take adequate anti-hoarding measures, especially in relation to the goods that will attract the higher Excise Tax.It has been learnt that the Cabinet has approved certain measures which are likely to come out as a Ministry of Finance (MoF) notification.
MoF did a presentation on certain measures which the Cabinet approved, but there are no details on what the exact measures are.
What is known is that the Department of Revenue and Customs (DRC) will look at the import data of the last six months to one year of the business and note any major or abnormal increases in the future.
DRC will be keeping an eye on excise items, like alcohol, cigarette, chewing tobacco, Pan Masala and electronic cigarettes whose prices will go up from 1st January 2021.
Alcoholic beverages will be taxed at Nu 1,200 per liter of pure alcohol content.
This means the selling price of Highland will increase from the current Nu 325 to Nu 643 with the assumption that ex-factor price remains the same along with the other costs.
A 500 ml Druk 11,000 can, with 8% alcohol tax, will increase in price from Nu 65 to Nu 90.
Tobacco products, including unstemmed and stemmed tobacco, tobacco refuse, chewing tobacco, zarda, snuff, and cigarettes, will be taxed at Nu 1,500 per kilogram or Nu 10 per stick for cigarettes and biri.