A tobacconist about to close shop could still get considered for a break from the Ministry of Finance by handing in audited financials for the business.

The Smoke Shop, the island’s only manufacturer of cigarettes, is to shut down at the end of July over what owner Michael Heslop described last week as exorbitant fees charged on loose tobacco that made the product more expensive than name-brand cigarettes.

Mr Heslop had previously been able to negotiate a one-off break on duties that he said kept the Hamilton business afloat.

However, with the old supply of tobacco used up, he said he had no choice but to close because the high duty rates made it impossible to stay in business.

The ministry confirmed that it was contacted in May 2022 by “representatives” from the store, based in the Washington Mall, with a request for “a further concessionary rate of customs duty applied to the importation of loose-leaf tobacco that was provided April 2021”.

The special rate of $105 per kilogram of tobacco instead of $500 was given under Curtis Dickinson, when he was the finance minister.

It was described by Mr Heslop as “a six-month window to stay in business”.

If the store had imported tobacco under the higher rate, the Government would have taken in a little more than $11.8 million, according to Ministry of Finance records.

Last week, Mr Heslop described it as a theoretical figure, since he would have been unable to afford bringing the tobacco to the island.

The finance portfolio is held by David Burt since Mr Dickinson’s resignation from Cabinet, and Mr Heslop said that he had been unable to negotiate directly with the Premier.

The ministry said in response: “Given any customs-duty concession would result in a loss of government revenue, in January 2023 the ministry requested audited financials from the company before any possible concessions are considered.

“The ministry still awaits the requested audited financials.”

Mr Heslop said that getting audited books to the ministry would prove a challenge, in part because the company’s accountant had been “stricken with Covid”.