YORK, Pa. – Pennsylvania residents who thought they were getting a deal on cigarettes are learning that the tax man is always watching.

The Pennsylvania Department of Revenue sent letters to more than 4,300 Keystone State residents who ordered cigarettes over the Internet since January 2005 informing the shoppers that they owe taxes. The first letters went out last month to people who are believed to have purchased at least 100 cartons and collectively owe $10.4 million in taxes.

At least 13 other states, including New Jersey, Ohio and New York, have been using information generated by the Jenkins Act to collect cigarette taxes. The law requires vendors who ship cigarettes into another state to release information about the purchases to state taxing authorities.

“Some Web sites falsely advertise that cigarettes are tax-free, and that’s simply not true, and unfortunate,” Department of Revenue spokesperson Stephanie Weyant said to the Associated Press. “Some have now started putting a very fine-print disclaimer on their Web site.”

In Pennsylvania, cigarettes are taxed at rate $1.35 per pack of 20 cigarettes. Buyers must also pay a 6 percent sales tax. Because of online purchases, the commonwealth is owed about $9.3 million in cigarette taxes and another $1.1 million in sales and use taxes, Weyant told the AP. She said the Department of Revenue was given information on more than 20,000 people who had ordered cigarettes online.

“Someone purchased 974 cartons," she said. “Some of them may have been for personal use, but some of those could have been purchased from the Internet and resold in the Commonwealth.”

In Pennsylvania, it is legal to possess one carton of out-of-state cigarettes. But, Weyant said, the person who possesses those cigarettes is still responsible for paying state taxes. “It doesn’t matter if they buy them online or if they go to Delaware,” she said. “They still need to pay taxes.”