The board shall forthwith ascertain as best it may the amount of the cigarettes or tobacco products distributed and shall determine immediately the tax on that amount, adding to the tax a penalty of 25 percent of the amount of tax or five hundred dollars ($500), whichever is greater, and shall give the unlicensed person notice of that determination per Section 30244 of the Cigarette and Tobacco Products Tax Law. However, where the board determines that the failure to secure a license was due to reasonable cause, the penalty may be waived. Sections 30242 and 30243 shall be applicable with respect to the finality of the determination and the right of the unlicensed person to petition for a redetermination.

Any person seeking to be relieved of the penalty shall file with the board a signed statement setting forth the facts upon which he or she bases the claim for relief. Any person who signs a statement pursuant to this section that asserts the truth of any material matter that he or she knows to be false is guilty of a misdemeanor punishable by imprisonment of up to one year in the county jail, or a fine of not more than one thousand dollars ($1,000), or both the imprisonment and the fine.

(Amended by Stats. 2004, Ch. 82, Sec. 9. Effective June 30, 2004.)