Florida Tobacco Importer Faces Prison Time for Avoiding $13 Million in Cigar Excise Taxes
A Florida tobacco importer faces criminal charges and possible prison time for allegedly evading $13 million in excise taxes, said the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida on Oct. 21 (here). Gitano Pierre Bryant Jr. miscalculated the amount of excise taxes he owed on large cigars he imported, despite repeated warnings from the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) and a previous conviction, and falsified invoices to further lower his tax payments, the attorney’s office said.
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According to the complaint, filed in early September but only recently unsealed, TTB agents warned Bryant in September 2014 that he was underpaying excise taxes on his company’s imported large cigars. The excise tax on large cigars, 52.75 percent up to a maximum 40.26 cents per cigar, should be calculated based on the price at which the importer sells the cigar in the U.S., the TTB agents said. Bryant was basing his calculations on the foreign manufacturer’s costs, plus the profit his company, Havana 59, made on each cigar. In May 2015, Bryant pleaded guilty and was sentenced to probation for underpaying excise taxes on cigarettes in a separate federal case in Virginia.
A subsequent audit of Bryant allegedly found that he was indeed miscalculating the amount of excise tax owed, basing it on his supplier’s costs instead of his sales prices. Though Bryant told his customs broker the correct way of paying excise tax on large cigars, the invoices he provided to the broker underreported his sales prices, the complaint said. Auditors also found Bryant altered the invoices he received from his foreign suppliers before turning them over to TTB, it said.
All in all, the government says Bryant avoided paying over $13 million in large cigar excise taxes between January 2012 and June 2016. The numerous criminal charges included in the complaint each carry maximum penalties of up to five years’ imprisonment and a $250,000 fine, the U.S. attorney’s press release said. Bryant’s attorney did not comment.
Email ITTNews@warren-news.com for a copy of the complaint.