Ohio Code 5743.071 – Wholesale and retail dealers to maintain records
Every person shall maintain complete and accurate records of all purchases and sales of cigarettes, and shall procure and retain all invoices, bills of lading, and other documents relating to the purchases and sales of cigarettes, except that no retail dealer shall be required to issue or maintain invoices relating to the retail dealer’s sales of cigarettes. The invoices or documents shall be maintained for each place of business and shall show the name and address of the other party to the purchase or sale and shall show the quantity of the cigarettes so sold or purchased.
Terms Used In Ohio Code 5743.071
- Cigarettes: includes any roll for smoking made wholly or in part of tobacco, irrespective of size or shape, and whether or not such tobacco is flavored, adulterated, or mixed with any other ingredient, the wrapper or cover of which is made of paper, reconstituted cigarette tobacco, homogenized cigarette tobacco, cigarette tobacco sheet, or any similar materials other than cigar tobacco. See Ohio Code 5743.01
- in writing: includes any representation of words, letters, symbols, or figures; this provision does not affect any law relating to signatures. See Ohio Code 1.59
- Person: includes individuals, firms, partnerships, associations, joint-stock companies, corporations, combinations of individuals of any form, and the state and any of its political subdivisions. See Ohio Code 5743.01
- Retail dealer: includes :
(1) In reference to dealers in cigarettes, every person other than a wholesale dealer engaged in the business of selling cigarettes in this state, regardless of whether the person is located in this state or elsewhere, and regardless of quantity, amount, or number of sales;
(2) In reference to dealers in tobacco products, any person in this state engaged in the business of selling tobacco products to ultimate consumers in this state, regardless of quantity, amount, or number of sales;
(3) In reference to dealers in vapor products, any person in this state engaged in the business of selling vapor products to ultimate consumers in this state, regardless of quantity, amount, or number of sales. See Ohio Code 5743.01
- Sale: includes exchange, barter, gift, offer for sale, and distribution, and includes transactions in interstate or foreign commerce. See Ohio Code 5743.01
The records and documents shall be open during business hours to the inspection of the tax commissioner, and shall be preserved for a period of three years, unless the commissioner, in writing, consents to their destruction within that period, or by order requires that they be kept for a longer period. With the tax commissioner’s consent, a person with multiple places of business may keep centralized records but shall transmit duplicates of the invoices or documents to each place of business within seventy-two hours after the tax commissioner or the tax commissioner’s designee requests access to the records.