PURPOSE: This rule provides by whom and under what circumstances unstamped cigarettes may be possessed.

1. (1) Except as provided by section 149.045, RSMo, only licensed Missouri cigarette wholesalers can possess unstamped cigarettes. Licensees are required to affix proper amounts of tax stamps or meter impressions to each individual package of cigarettes before transferring the possession of any cigarettes.
2. (2) All cigarettes sold or delivered by one (1) licensed cigarette wholesaler to another licensed cigarette wholesaler in Missouri shall be stamped by the wholesaler making the sale or delivery. A cigarette wholesaler who receives cigarettes already stamped from another cigarette wholesaler is required to report all the receipts for each month.
3. (3) A licensed cigarette wholesaler may possess packages of cigarettes designated for export if tax stamp or meter impression required by another state is affixed to the packages of cigarettes and the packages are stored separately and distinct from Missouri tax stamped cigarettes.
4. (4) Detailed records of all cigarettes distributed and to whom distribution is made, directly or by drop shipment for delivery or consumption outside Missouri must be kept if the cigarettes are to be exempt from the cigarette tax levied by Chapters 66, 149 and 210, RSMo.
5. (5) Any person who fails to affix stamps to packages of cigarettes sold in St. Louis County or Jackson County within the time and manner required of him/her under the provisions of Chapter 149, RSMo shall pay, as a part of the tax imposed by Chapters 66 and 210, RSMo respectively, a penalty equal to one hundred percent (100%) of the initial tax liability and the tax and penalty shall bear interest at the rate of six percent (6%) per annum.
6. (6) No person, other than licensed wholesalers or other persons as specifically provided for in Chapter 149, RSMo, shall possess, for the purpose of the sale of cigarettes in St. Louis or Jackson County any packages of cigarettes to which the stamps or meter units required by Chapters 66, 149 and 210, RSMo are not affixed.
7. (7) Mere possession of an unstamped package of cigarettes in St. Louis or Jackson County by any person, except under circumstances specifically prescribed by Chapter 149, RSMo shall be prima facie evidence that the cigarettes are intended for sale in St. Louis or Jackson County.
8. (8) In no case shall a Missouri cigarette wholesaler sell or transport unstamped cigarettes, as defined by section 149.011(11), RSMo, to a retailer unless such retailer is a post exchange, commissary or other instrumentality of the federal government pursuant to section 149.061.1., RSMo and has received a purchase order from the federal government for such sales and payment for such sales shall be made directly from the federal government to the wholesaler, pursuant to section 149.061.2., RSMo.

AUTHORITY: sections 66.380, 149.015 and 210.320, RSMo (Cum. Supp. 1993) and 136.030, 136.120 and 149.021, RSMo (1986).* Cigarette Tax Regulation 14 was last filed Dec. 31, 1975 effective Jan. 10, 1976. Amended: Filed Feb. 18, 1983, effective June 11, 1983. Amended: Filed Feb. 16, 1988, effective May 26, 1988. *Original authority: 66.380, RSMo (1967), amended 1993; 136.030, RSMo (1945), amended 1947, 1949, 1965; 136.120, RSMo (1945); 149.015, RSMo (1974), amended 1982, 1993; 149.021, RSMo (1974), amended 1982; and 210.320, RSMo (1939), amended 1969, 1976, 1978, 1993.