After several years of little to no travel as a result of COVID-19, it was wonderful to meet up with old and new colleagues again at the High Security Printing™ Latin America conference, held in Mexico City in March.

Cannabis is fast becoming one of the top excise revenue sources for states that have legalized the substance. Cannabis excise tax revenue collection, as a matter of fact, is outpacing liquor tax collection in most states where it has been legalized.

Conferences are back! And this includes the Tax Stamp & Traceability Forum™, which takes place from 16-18 May 2022 in Malta. The programme is well on its way to being finalised, and here we share some of the papers and discussions confirmed so far.

The International Tax Stamp Association (ITSA) is inviting regional government authorities to a pre-conference seminar to discuss best practices and lessons learned in the tracking and tracing of excise products, especially tobacco and alcohol.

In 2011, Chile began seriously considering implementing a tax stamp and traceability programme, when Michel Jorratt, a member of the Chilean tax authority, Servicio de Impuestos Internos (SII), published a study estimating that over $500 million were being evaded yearly in cigarette tax in Chile.

We are delighted that the Tax Stamp & Traceability Forum™ will be returning next year and that the tax stamp community will be able to gather together once again, in person, after what seems like a very long time.

The International Tax Stamp Association (ITSA) is being increasingly recognised by government revenue departments as an authoritative body of experts on tax stamp and traceability solutions for excise products.

In July, the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) held a webinar on the benefits of track and trace systems as tools in tobacco tax administration, as well as the best practices for implementing such systems.

The recent news that Nigeria is considering the introduction of excise tax on telecommunication airtime charges, in a bid to raise additional revenues, has prompted stakeholders to question whether excise taxes are actually appropriate for this sector.

The growth of informal economic activity has become a challenge throughout the Latin American region. To address this, the Swiss-Chilean Chamber of Commerce recently held a webinar to discuss the challenges of informality (in employment, government, taxation), as well as the actions that policymakers, in the region and elsewhere, could take to halt an increasing trend resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic.