A cigarette distributing agent in Iowa — a permittee that receives and stores cigarettes for distribution to wholesalers or distributors — posts a surety bond with its permit under Iowa Code 453A.14. The amount is a fixed $2,500, which at our flat 3% lands at the $275 minimum.
















Fixed-amount tobacco bonds are the simplest thing in surety. Here's the whole process:
Business details and an effective date — no financials and no credit check section.
Fixed-amount tobacco bonds like this issue right after purchase for most applicants. At most, 1–2 business days.
Your executed bond arrives by email, ready to file with your distributing agent permit application or renewal. Wet-ink original mailed on request.
$2,500 bond × 3% = $75, below our $275 minimum — so the price is $275, one-time per term. Multi-year if you want it.
Iowa taxes cigarettes through the Department of Revenue under chapter 453A. A distributing agent is a permittee that receives cigarettes in interstate commerce and stores them for distribution to distributors and wholesalers — it must post a surety bond before the permit issues, set by Iowa Code 453A.14 at a fixed $2,500.
The bond runs to the State for the benefit of the Department. It guarantees that you comply with chapter 453A and pay all cigarette taxes, fees, and costs you owe — if you do not, the Department can recover against the bond up to the $2,500 penal sum.
It is not insurance for you: if the surety pays, you repay the surety. Where a person holds more than one tobacco permit, the bond requirements are cumulative. Iowa tobacco bonds run to a June 30 expiration by rule.
These are the actual issuing fields — no credit check section, because this fixed-amount bond doesn't have one.
Start the application →If yours isn't here, the bond team can usually answer within the hour.
$275 flat, five-minute application, bond often issued in the same sitting. Free until issued.