The cigarettes purchased online cost approximately half of the retail price.

The government in Arizona is asking people who purchased cigarettes in online shops to pay state taxes that have not been paid at the time of the purchase. It has been reported that about 30,000 people are being asked to pay and some of the bills are for thousands of dollars.

"Since 2006 people have been purchasing cigarettes online at a discounted rate. No state tax was paid. The government is owed more than $ 20 for each carton purchased online", says the Department of Revenue in Arizona.

Official letters are being sent to those who thought that by purchasing cigarettes online they will save a lot of money. The cigarettes they bought on the Internet were more than half off the normal price. The letters demand each smoker to pay the taxes that are due, plus interest and penalties.

From 2007 to 2009 Annette Borden who lives in Chandler was purchasing her cigarettes online. She is now being asked to pay $ 4,299.20 to the State of Arizona.

Borden says she had no idea that she had to pay taxes for her online purchases. She says that she does not understand why nobody notified her before, she would have paid what is due to her government. But it has been seven years since her online purchases and she is absolutely stunned.

"Now I am very concerned that the government might decide to send me letters demanding that I pay extra money for other things I purchased online", Borden complains.

This concern has been raised by a lot of people. In theory, this should not happen. Unlike the purchases made by smokers online, the government has no way to track cigarettes online orders from websites like eBay etc. The state tax is not being charged on such online purchases.

Sean Laux, a spokesman for the Department of Revenue, says that there are no online purchases that are tax-free. He says that people thought that by purchasing cigarettes online they were getting a great deal, they did not have to pay tax. But this was not the case.

Purchasing cigarettes online is illegal since a federal law has been introduced in 2012. The U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives made sure that companies provide lists of their clients. The information gathered was then distributed to each state.

"In 2013 the department started notifying those who made the online purchases. They were informed that a use tax of 5.6 to 6.6 per cent on every pack of cigarettes has to be paid.", the spokesman said.

The state offered Borden to knock down her bill to $ 2,800, which would save her $ 1,500.

She says that it is a lot of money. That is her property taxes for a year.

It has been stated that when it comes to unpaid cigarettes taxes there is no statute of limitations. Thus, cases can be pursued indefinitely. In cases that do not involve cigarettes purchases there is a time limit, a state has a specific number of years during which it can audit income-tax return of an individual. Usually, they can go back no more than 4 years.

The spokesman says that if a taxpayer never filed taxes or committed fraud, then the time limitations can be lifted. In cases like this, it does not matter when a purchase occurred. The state is not limited by the number of years.

"Not paying cigarettes taxes is the same as not filing taxes, it is no different from somebody not filing income tax", says Laux.

A smoker pays around $ 71.00 when purchasing a carton of Marlboro Red cigarettes in Phoenix. The cigarettes purchased online cost approximately half of the retail price.

The spokesman mentioned that in Arizona the purchases in question occurred from 2006 to 2011 and the amounts of the bills sent to the smokers start from few hundred dollars, with some of them reaching thousands of dollars.

"I purchased my cigarettes online because it was more convenient for me. I did not intend to avoid paying taxes", says Borden.

She is not denying purchasing the cigarettes, but she is shocked by the state attempts to get back the taxes.

"I will think about ordering my cigarettes online, but the tax bill they sent to me will not make me quit smoking!"

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