63.04.040 Cigars, Pipe Tobacco, and Other Tobacco Products – Tribal Excise Fee Payable by Dealers - Reports - Penalties - Collection - Allocation of Revenue

(a) There is levied and assessed, upon all cigars and pipe tobacco purchased in another state and brought onto this reservation by an enrolled member of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians dealer for the purpose of sale at retail, a tribal excise fee at the rate of twenty-eight percent of the wholesale purchase price and, upon all other tobacco products purchased off of the reservation and brought onto this reservation by a dealer for the purpose of sale at retail, an excise fee at the rates indicated in Section 63.04.020, at the time the products were brought into the territory or jurisdiction of the Tribe. For the purposes of this section, the term "wholesale purchase price" means the established price for which a manufacturer sells cigars or pipe tobacco to a distributor exclusive of any discount or other reduction. However, the dealer may elect to report and remit the fee on the cost price of the products to the dealer rather than on the wholesale purchase price. The proceeds of the fee, together with the forms of return and in accordance with any rules and regulations the tribe may prescribe, must be remitted to the tribe by the dealer on a monthly basis on or before the fifteenth day of the month following the monthly period for which it is paid. The Tax Commissioner shall have the authority to place any dealer on an annual remittance basis when in the judgment of the Tax Commissioner the operations of the dealer merit that remittance period. In addition, the Tax Commissioner shall have the authority to permit the consolidation of the filing of a dealer's return when the dealer has more than one location and thereby would be required to file more than one return.

(b) If cigars, pipe tobacco, or other tobacco products have been subjected already to a tax or fee by any jurisdiction outside the reservation in respect to their sale in an amount less than the tribal fee imposed by this section, the provisions of this section apply, but at a rate measured by the difference only between the rate fixed in this section and the rate by which the previous tax or fee upon the sale was computed. If the tax or fee imposed off of the reservation is twenty percent of the wholesale purchase price or more, then no tribal fee is due on the article. The provisions of this subsection apply only if the other jurisdiction allows a tax credit with respect to the excise tax on cigars, pipe tobacco, or other tobacco products imposed by this tribal fee which is substantially similar in effect to the credit allowed by this subsection.

(c) Any person failing to file any prescribed forms of return or to pay any tribal fee within the time required by this section is subject to a penalty of five dollars or a sum equal to five percent of the fee due, whichever is greater, plus one percent of the fee for each month of delay or fraction thereof excepting the month within which the return was required to be filed or the fee became due. The tribe, if satisfied that the delay was excusable, may waive all or any part of the penalty. The penalty must be paid to the tribe, through the Tax Commissioner and disposed of in the same manner as are other receipts under this title.