Section 30 Stamper; purchase and use of stamps; appointment; compensation; payment for stamps
Section 30. Every stamper shall purchase cigarette excise stamps from the commissioner and shall affix them, in the manner and within the time prescribed by the commissioner, to each package of cigarettes to be sold within the commonwealth in an aggregate denomination not less than the amount of the excise upon the contents thereof before such cigarettes are offered for sale or otherwise disposed of. The commissioner may by regulation provide for the cancellation of such stamps. Any person subsequently receiving such stamped packages of cigarettes shall not be liable for said excise. The commissioner shall furnish such stamps in such quantities as may be necessary, and he shall provide for the custody of the stamps, dies, plates and other materials and supplies used in the manufacture of said stamps in such manner as he deems expedient. The commissioner may, whenever he deems it advisable, provide for the issuance and exclusive use of stamps of a new design, and forbid the use of stamps of any other design. The commissioner shall make provisions for the sale of such stamps at such places and at such times as he may deem expedient.
The commissioner may appoint as stampers licensed manufacturers and such licensed wholesalers and licensed vending machine operators who bring or cause to be brought into the commonwealth unstamped cigarettes purchased directly from the manufacturers thereof, and such licensed unclassified acquirers as he deems necessary. Only a stamper shall affix stamps to be used in paying the said excise, unless the commissioner otherwise prescribes. A stamper may affix such stamps only on cigarettes which are sold by him in the regular course of the business in which he is engaged and for which he is licensed, and on cigarettes for such other licensees as the commissioner may in writing specifically authorize and in accordance with such conditions as the commissioner may impose.
Every such stamper shall affix stamps on each cigarette package no later than seventy-two hours after receipt of the cigarettes.
Every such stamper who has complied with the provisions of this chapter and the pertinent rules and regulations made thereunder may withhold and retain from each payment to be made by him for such stamps, as compensation for service rendered in compliance with this chapter, one dollar and eighty-five cents for each six hundred cigarette excise adhesive stamps purchased, and a proportionate amount for any fraction thereof.
No such compensation shall be allowed on any sale of less than one hundred dollars. The commissioner, in his discretion, may, permit a stamper to pay for such stamps within thirty days after the date of purchase; provided, that the stamper furnishes a bond pursuant to section sixty-six of chapter sixty-two C.