Texas Administrative Code › Title 34 - PUBLIC FINANCE › Part 1 - COMPTROLLER OF PUBLIC ACCOUNTS › Chapter 3 - TAX ADMINISTRATION › Subchapter FF - SPECIAL FEE ON CERTAIN CIGARETTES AND CIGARETTE TOBACCO PRODUCTS › Section 3.751 - Special Fee on Certain Cigarettes and Cigarette Tobacco Products; Definitions, Imposition of Fee, and Reports

Current through Reg. 49, No. 28; July 12, 2024
(a) Definitions. The following words and
				  terms, when used in this section, shall have the following meanings, unless the
				  context clearly indicates otherwise.
(1)
				  Brand family--Each style of cigarettes or cigarette tobacco products sold under
				  the same trademark. The term includes any style of cigarettes or cigarette
				  tobacco products that have a brand name, trademark, logo, symbol, motto,
				  selling message, recognizable pattern of colors, or other indication of product
				  identification that is identical to, similar to, or identifiable with a
				  previously known brand of cigarettes or cigarette tobacco products.
(2) Cigarette--A roll for smoking that is
				  made of tobacco or tobacco mixed with another ingredient, wrapped or covered
				  with a material other than tobacco, and is not a cigar.
(3) Cigarette tobacco product--Roll-your-own
				  (RYO) tobacco or tobacco that, because of the tobacco's appearance, type,
				  packaging, or labeling, is suitable for use in making cigarettes and is likely
				  to be offered to or purchased by a consumer for that purpose.
(4) Credit amendment--An amendment to the
				  master settlement agreement that offers a credit to subsequent participating
				  manufacturers for fees paid under this section with respect to their products
				  in a form agreed on by settling states, as defined in the master settlement
				  agreement, with aggregate allocable shares, as defined in the master settlement
				  agreement, equal to at least 99.937049%; by the original participating
				  manufacturers, as defined in the master settlement agreement; and by subsequent
				  participating manufacturers whose aggregate market share, expressed as a
				  percentage of the total number of individual cigarettes sold in the United
				  States, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico during the calendar year at
				  issue, as measured by excise taxes collected by the federal government, and in
				  the case of cigarettes sold in Puerto Rico, by arbitrios de cigarillos
				  collected by the Puerto Rico taxing authority, is greater than 2.5%. For
				  purposes of the calculation of subsequent participating manufacturer market
				  share under this subchapter, 0.09 ounces of roll-your-own tobacco constitutes
				  one cigarette.
(5) Distributor--A
				  person who is authorized to purchase cigarettes in unstamped packages or
				  receives untaxed tobacco products for the purpose of making a first sale in
				  this state from manufacturers; a person who is authorized to stamp cigarette
				  packages; a person who ships, transports, or imports cigarettes or tobacco
				  products into this state; a person who acquires, possesses, and makes a first
				  sale of cigarettes or tobacco products in this state; or a person who
				  manufactures or produces cigarettes or tobacco products.
(6) Fee or monthly fee--The fee imposed under
				  Health and Safety Code, §
											161.603 (Fee
				  Imposed).
(7) Manufacturer--A
				  person who manufactures, fabricates, or assembles cigarettes or cigarette
				  tobacco products, or causes or arranges for the manufacture, fabrication, or
				  assembly of cigarettes or cigarette tobacco products, for sale or distribution.
				  The term also includes a person who is the first importer into the United
				  States of cigarettes or cigarette tobacco products manufactured, fabricated, or
				  assembled outside the United States.
(8) Master settlement agreement--The
				  settlement agreement entered into on November 23, 1998, by 46 states and
				  leading United States tobacco manufacturers, as amended as of September 1,
				  2013. Texas is not a party to the master settlement agreement.
(9) Non-settling manufacturer--A manufacturer
				  of cigarettes or cigarette tobacco products that did not sign a Texas tobacco
				  settlement agreement.
(10)
				  Non-settling manufacturer cigarettes--Cigarettes manufactured, fabricated,
				  assembled, or imported into the United States by a non-settling
				  manufacturer.
(11) Non-settling
				  manufacturer cigarette tobacco products--Cigarette tobacco products
				  manufactured, fabricated, assembled, or imported into the United States by a
				  non-settling manufacturer.
(12)
				  Settling manufacturer--A manufacturer of cigarettes or cigarette tobacco
				  products that signed a Texas tobacco settlement agreement.
(13) Subsequent participating
				  manufacturer--Tobacco manufacturers that signed on to the master settlement
				  agreement on or after November 23, 1998, and that have not signed a Texas
				  tobacco settlement agreement. For purposes of this section, a subsequent
				  participating manufacturer is also a non-settling manufacturer. A manufacturer
				  may not be treated as a subsequent participating manufacturer for purposes of
				  this section unless it has provided to the comptroller notice and proof, in the
				  form and manner the comptroller may prescribe, that it is a subsequent
				  participating manufacturer.
(14)
				  Texas tobacco settlement agreement--This term means either:
(A) the Comprehensive Settlement Agreement
				  and Release filed on January 16, 1998, in the United States District Court,
				  Eastern District of Texas, in the case styled The State of Texas v. The
				  American Tobacco Co., et al., No. 5-96CV-91, and all subsequent amendments;
				  or
(B) the settlement agreement
				  entered into on March 20, 1997, regarding the matter described in subparagraph
				  (A) of this paragraph, but only as to companies that signed that agreement on
				  that date.