SECTIONS 30471-30482 - California Statutes

REVENUE AND TAXATION CODE

SECTION 30471-30482

30471. Any person who fails or refuses to file any report required
to be made, or who fails or refuses to furnish a supplemental report
or other data required by the board, or who fails or refuses to allow
an inspection by the board, pursuant to Section 30435, or who
renders a false or fraudulent report is guilty of a misdemeanor and
subject to a fine not to exceed one thousand dollars ($1,000) for
each offense.

30472. Any person required to make, render, sign, or verify any
report who makes any false or fraudulent report with intent to defeat
or evade the determination required by law to be made is guilty of a
misdemeanor. He shall for each offense be fined not less than three
hundred dollars ($300) and not more than five thousand dollars
($5,000), or be imprisoned for not exceeding one year in the county
jail, or be subject to both fine and imprisonment, in the discretion
of the court.

30473. Any person who falsely or fraudulently makes, forges,
alters, reuses or counterfeits any stamp or meter impression provided
for or authorized under this part, or tampers with any metering
machine authorized under this part, or causes or procures to be
falsely or fraudulently made, forged, altered, reused, or
counterfeited, any such stamp or meter impression or knowingly and
willfully utters, publishes, passes, or tenders as genuine any such
false, forged, altered, reused, or counterfeited stamp or meter
impression, for the purpose of evading the tax imposed by this part,
is guilty of a felony and subject to imprisonment for two, three, or
four years, or to a fine of not less than one thousand dollars
($1,000) and not more than twenty-five thousand dollars ($25,000), or
to both fine and imprisonment.

30473.5. (a) Any person who possesses, sells, or offers to sell, or
buys or offers to buy, any false or fraudulent stamps or meter
impressions provided for or authorized under this part in a quantity
of less than 2,000 is guilty of a misdemeanor, punishable by a fine
not to exceed five thousand dollars ($5,000) or imprisonment not
exceeding one year in a county jail, or by both the fine and
imprisonment.
(b) Any person who possesses, sells, or offers to sell, or buys or
offers to buy any false or fraudulent stamps or meter impressions
provided for or authorized under this part in a quantity of 2,000 or
greater, is guilty of a misdemeanor, punishable by a fine not to
exceed fifty thousand dollars ($50,000) or imprisonment not exceeding
one year in a county jail, or by both the fine and imprisonment. The
court shall order any fines assessed be deposited in the Cigarette
and Tobacco Products Compliance Fund.
(c) The board shall destroy any stamps seized under this section.

30474. (a) Any person who knowingly possesses, or keeps, stores, or
retains for the purpose of sale, or sells or offers to sell, any
package of cigarettes to which there is not affixed the stamp or
meter impression required to be affixed under this part, when those
cigarettes have been obtained from any source whatever, is guilty of
a misdemeanor and shall for each offense be fined an amount not to
exceed twenty-five thousand dollars ($25,000), or be imprisoned for a
period not to exceed one year in the county jail, or, at the
discretion of the court, be subject to both fine and imprisonment in
the county jail.
(b) In addition to the fine or sentence, or both, each person
convicted under this section shall pay one hundred dollars ($100) for
each carton of 200 cigarettes, or portion thereof, if that person
knowingly possessed, or kept, stored, or retained for the purpose of
sale, or sold or offered for sale in violation of this section, as
determined by the court. The court shall direct that 50 percent of
the penalty assessed be transmitted to the local prosecuting
jurisdiction, to be allocated for costs of prosecution, and 50
percent of the penalty assessed be transmitted to the State Board of
Equalization.
(c) This section does not apply to a licensed distributor that
possesses, keeps, stores, or retains cigarettes before the necessary
stamp or meter impression is affixed.

30474.1. (a) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the sale
or possession for sale of counterfeit tobacco products, or the sale
or possession for sale of counterfeit cigarettes by a manufacturer,
importer, distributor, wholesaler, or retailer shall result in the
seizure of the product by the board or any law enforcement agency and
shall constitute a misdemeanor punishable as follows:
(1) A violation with a total quantity of less than two cartons of
cigarettes shall be a misdemeanor punishable by a fine not to exceed
five thousand dollars ($5,000), or imprisonment not to exceed one
year in a county jail, or both fine and imprisonment, and shall also
result in the revocation by the board of the manufacturer,
distributor, or wholesale license.
(2) A violation with a quantity of two cartons of cigarettes or
more shall be a misdemeanor punishable by a fine not to exceed fifty
thousand dollars ($50,000) or imprisonment not to exceed one year in
a county jail, or both fine and imprisonment, and shall also result
in the revocation by the board of the manufacturer, distributor, or
wholesaler license.
(b) A court shall consider a defendant's ability to pay when
imposing fines pursuant to this section.
(c) For the purposes of this section, counterfeit cigarette and
tobacco products include cigarette and tobacco products that have
false manufacturing labels, false or fraudulent stamps or meter
impressions, or a combination thereof.
(d) The board shall seize and destroy any cigarettes or other
tobacco products forfeited to the state under this section.

30474.5. (a) This section shall be known as and may be cited as the
Black Market Cigarette and Street Corruption Prevention Act.
(b) The Legislature finds that the sale of black-market, untaxed
cigarettes has resulted in the loss of hundreds of millions of
dollars in revenue to the state, robbing state health care and
programs designed to help children.
(c) It is the intent of the Legislature, by enacting the act
adding this section, to provide resources to prosecutors and local
law enforcement personnel, and to enable local jurisdictions to
develop a multiagency task force for the purpose of significantly
reducing the sales of black-market cigarettes and creating a
deterrent to those sales through the focused investigation and
prosecution of sales of black-market cigarettes, and other associated
offenses and related crimes.
(d) In addition to the fine or sentence, or both, imposed by
Section 30474, each person convicted under Section 30474 shall pay
one hundred dollars ($100) for each carton of 200 cigarettes, or
portion thereof, knowingly possessed, or kept, stored, or retained
for the purpose of sale, or sold or offered for sale in violation of
Section 30474, as determined by the court. The court shall direct
that the penalty of one hundred dollars ($100) assessed under this
section shall be transmitted to the Controller for deposit in the
Unlawful Sales Reduction Fund, which is hereby created. Upon
appropriation by the Legislature, the moneys in the fund shall be
allocated to the Office of Criminal Justice Planning for the funding
of a competitive grant program to be established by the Legislature
to award grants to local jurisdictions for the purpose of
establishing a multiagency task force, the composition of which shall
include prosecutors and local law enforcement personnel and may
include state law enforcement personnel, for the purpose of
significantly reducing the sales of black-market cigarettes, and
creating a deterrent to those sales through the focused investigation
and prosecution of sales of black-market cigarettes and other
associated offenses and related crimes. No more than 5 percent of the
amount transmitted from the penalty of one hundred dollars ($100)
assessed under this section may be retained to fund the costs of
administering the competitive grant program.
(e) The Office of Criminal Justice Planning shall consult with the
State Board of Equalization in the administration of the competitive
grant program.
(f) (1) The one hundred dollar ($100) penalty for each carton of
200 cigarettes knowingly possessed, or kept, stored, or retained for
the purpose of sale, or sold, or offered for sale in violation of
Section 30474, as authorized under subdivision (d), shall only be
imposed for the period beginning on January 1, 2003, and ending on
January 1, 2006.
(2) This section shall remain in effect until December 1, 2006, or
until all the moneys remaining in the Unlawful Sales Reduction Fund
on January 1, 2006, have been appropriated by the Legislature for
allocation to the Office of Criminal Justice Planning for funding the
competitive grant program established under this section, whichever
occurs later.

30475. (a) Any transporter who transports cigarettes or tobacco
products upon the highways, roads or streets of this state without
having obtained a permit or without having a permit in the
transporting vehicle as prescribed by Section 30431 or without having
in the transporting vehicle the invoices, bills of lading or
delivery tickets for the cigarettes or tobacco products as prescribed
by Section 30432 is guilty of a misdemeanor and upon conviction
thereof shall be fined not more than one thousand dollars ($1,000) or
be imprisoned for not more than one year in the county jail, or be
subject to both fine and imprisonment in the discretion of the court.
(b) Any transporter who, with intent to defeat or evade or with
intent to aid another to defeat or evade the taxes imposed by this
part, at any given time transports 40,000 or more cigarettes or
tobacco products with a value of five thousand dollars ($5,000) or
more upon the highways, roads or streets of this state without having
obtained a permit or without having a permit in the transporting
vehicle as prescribed by Section 30431 or without having in the
transporting vehicle the invoices, bills of lading or delivery
tickets for the cigarettes or tobacco products as prescribed by
Section 30432 shall be punished by imprisonment in the county jail
for not more than one year, or in the state prison, or by fine of not
more than twenty-five thousand dollars ($25,000), or be subject to
both fine and imprisonment in the discretion of the court.

30476. Any person in possession or control of, or having access to,
a cigarette vending machine who knowingly or willfully places for
sale in the vending machine, any cigarettes not contained in packages
to which are affixed California tax stamps or meter impressions, is
guilty of a misdemeanor and upon conviction thereof shall be fined
not more than one thousand dollars ($1,000) or be imprisoned for not
more than one year in the county jail, or be subject to both fine and
imprisonment at the discretion of the court.

30477. Any violation of the provisions of this part, except as
otherwise provided, is a misdemeanor and is punishable as such.

30478. It shall be a misdemeanor for any retailer, as defined in
Section 6015, to knowingly purchase cigarettes or tobacco products
for resale from any person except a distributor or wholesaler
licensed pursuant to this part.

30479. If any retailer, as defined in Part 1 (commencing with
Section 6001) of this division, is convicted under any provision of
this part and has any previous conviction within a 10-year period
under this part, the State Board of Equalization shall revoke all
permits issued to such person under the Sales and Use Tax Law for a
period of one year.

30480. Notwithstanding any other provision of this part, any person
who violates this part with intent to defeat or evade the
determination of an amount due required by law to be made is guilty
of a felony when the amount of tax liability aggregates twenty-five
thousand dollars ($25,000) or more in any 12-consecutive-month
period. The determination shall be approved by the executive director
or his or her designee. Each offense shall be punished by a fine of
not less than five thousand dollars ($5,000) and not more than twenty
thousand dollars ($20,000), or imprisonment for 16 months, two
years, or three years, or by both the fine and imprisonment in the
discretion of the court.

30481. Any prosecution for violation of any of the penal provisions
of this part shall be instituted within six years after commission
of the offense.

30482. Any person convicted of a crime under this part may be
charged the costs of investigation and prosecution at the discretion
of the court.
All moneys remitted to the board under this part shall be
transmitted to the Treasurer who shall deposit it into the State
Treasury and credit it to the Cigarette Tax Fund.