RMC No. 86-2026: Tobacco and Vapor Product Companies Get 6 Months to Register Brands or Face Penalties

The BIR gave manufacturers, importers, and exporters of tobacco and vapor products six months to register their brands and product variants or face penalties, under Revenue Memorandum Circular (RMC) No. 86-2026, published July 31, 2026. The circular updates the BIR’s registry of covered companies to 192 entries across 14 classifications, spanning cigarettes, heated tobacco, vapor products, cigars, and chewing tobacco.

This matters beyond the tobacco and vape industry itself — it’s a reminder that excise tax registration is an ongoing, periodically refreshed BIR obligation, not a one-time filing. For related excise tax filing rules, see What Is Excise Tax in the Philippines? and BIR Excise Tax Returns Compared.

What does RMC No. 86-2026 actually require? #

RMC No. 86-2026 publishes an updated registry of tobacco and vapor product manufacturers, importers, and exporters and requires each covered company to register its brands and specific product variants with the BIR within six months of the circular’s release, on July 31, 2026. The registry itself lists 192 entries across 14 manufacturer, importer, and exporter classifications: 84 vapor product entries (26 manufacturers and 58 importers), 43 cigarette-related entries (domestic manufacturers, export manufacturers, PEZA-registered manufacturers, and importers), 16 heated tobacco product importers, 9 novel tobacco product manufacturers and importers, 17 cigar manufacturers and importers, 22 chewing tobacco manufacturers and importers, and 1 smoking tobacco product importer.

The registration requirement isn’t new law — it rests on the excise tax registration framework the BIR has maintained since Revenue Regulations (RR) No. 3-2006, later amended by RR Nos. 7-2021 and 14-2022. What RMC No. 86-2026 does is refresh the registry and put a concrete six-month clock on companies whose brands or variants aren’t yet reflected in it, whether because they’re new entrants or because an earlier registration lapsed or changed.

Why does the BIR keep re-issuing this registry? #

A brand and variant registry that goes stale invites exactly the kind of unregistered, untaxed product circulation the BIR’s excise tax rules exist to prevent — so the BIR periodically republishes and re-deadlines it rather than relying on a registration filed once, years ago. Excise tax on tobacco and vapor products is computed per unit or by specific rate, and the BIR’s ability to verify that a given brand and variant on store shelves is the same one that was registered — and taxed — depends on keeping the registry current. Related compliance obligations for excisable goods, such as fuel marking and the BIR Form 2200 series, follow the same logic: see What Is the BIR Fuel Marking Program? for a comparable registration-and-verification regime on a different excisable product.

BIR revenue collections from tobacco excise tax have also fallen short of government targets in recent years, which puts pressure on maintaining an accurate, current registry as a compliance and revenue-protection tool rather than a paperwork formality companies can let lapse.

What happens if a company misses the six-month window? #

Failure to register a brand or variant within the deadline exposes the company to BIR penalties and to the compliance and enforcement risk that attaches to dealing in unregistered excisable articles. This site covers the compromise penalty framework for related excise violations in BIR Compromise Penalties for Unlawful Possession of Untaxed Excise Articles — the same underlying principle applies here: an unregistered brand or variant is treated as outside the system the BIR uses to verify that excise tax was actually paid on it, which is a materially worse position than a late but completed registration.

For a company with multiple brands or variants across different classifications — for example, an importer bringing in both vapor products and heated tobacco devices — the safest approach is to inventory every brand and variant against the current registry now, rather than assuming an older registration still covers a newer product line.

Frequently asked questions #

What is RMC No. 86-2026? #

Revenue Memorandum Circular No. 86-2026, published by the BIR on July 31, 2026, releases an updated registry of manufacturers, importers, and exporters of tobacco and vapor products, covering 192 entries across 14 classifications, and gives covered companies six months from the circular’s release to register their brands and product variants.

Which products does RMC No. 86-2026 cover? #

The circular covers cigarettes, heated tobacco products, vapor products, novel tobacco products, cigars, smoking tobacco products, and chewing tobacco products.

What happens if a company doesn’t register its brands within six months? #

Companies that fail to register within the six-month window are subject to penalties under the BIR’s existing registration and excise tax compliance rules, which can include compromise penalties and exposure to enforcement action for dealing in unregistered excisable articles.

What is the legal basis for requiring brand registration in the first place? #

The brand and variant registration requirement rests on Revenue Regulations No. 3-2006, as later amended by RR Nos. 7-2021 and 14-2022, which the BIR periodically updates and re-circularizes as new entries are added or existing registrations change.

Does RMC No. 86-2026 apply to vapor products the same way it applies to traditional cigarettes? #

Yes. The updated registry explicitly includes vapor products as one of its 14 classifications, and vapor product companies face the same six-month registration deadline as traditional tobacco companies.

Summary #

RMC No. 86-2026 refreshes the BIR’s tobacco and vapor product registry to 192 entries across 14 classifications and starts a six-month clock, from July 31, 2026, for covered manufacturers, importers, and exporters to register their brands and variants or risk penalties. Manufacturers and importers should check every brand and variant they sell against the updated registry now, well before the deadline closes.