A Federal, State, or local officer shall not sell or cause to be sold for consumption in the United States any forfeited, condemned, or abandoned tobacco products in his custody upon which the Federal tax has not been paid, if in his opinion the sale thereof will not bring a price equal to the tax due and payable thereon and the expenses incident to the sale thereof. Where the products are not sold the officer may deliver them to a Federal or State hospital or institution (if they are fit for consumption) or cause their destruction by burning completely or by rendering them unfit for consumption. Where such products are sold they shall be released by the officer having custody thereof only after they are properly packaged and taxpaid. A receipt from the appropriate TTB officer evidencing payment of tax on such products shall be presented to the officer having custody of the products, which tax shall be considered part of the sales price. Where tobacco products which have been packaged under the provisions of part 44 or part 45 of this chapter are to be released after payment of tax, the purchaser shall appropriately mark each package “Federal Tax Paid (date)” before the officer having custody of the products releases them:

Provided, That if the purchaser is a qualified manufacturer of tobacco products, or for products packaged under part 44 a qualified export warehouse proprietor, the products may be released without such marking of the packages if the manufacturer or proprietor does not intend to place such products on the domestic market for taxable products but will dispose of them otherwise, such as by destruction or return to bond through claim for refund, and files a written statement to that effect, in original only, with the officer having custody of the products. In the case of products forfeited under the internal revenue laws the sale shall be subject to the provisions of part 172 of this chapter.

(68A Stat. 870, as amended, 72 Stat. 1425, as amended; 26 U.S.C. 7325, 5753)

[T.D. 6961, 33 FR 9488, June 28, 1968. Redesignated at 40 FR 16835, Apr. 15, 1975, and amended by T.D. ATF-232, 51 FR 28080, Aug. 5, 1986; T.D. ATF-243, 52 FR 43194, Dec. 1, 1986; T.D. ATF-251, 52 FR 19339, May 22, 1987; T.D. ATF-469, 66 FR 56758, Nov. 13, 2001]