IBVTA statement on today’s budget announcement of a duty on liquids
Chancellor Jeremy Hunt has today announced that to discourage non-smokers from taking up vaping, the Government is confirming the introduction of an excise duty on liquids used in vaping products from October 2026, and has published a consultation on its design.
The consultation will run for 12 weeks, and closes on the 29th of May.
The rates being proposed will be £1.00 per 10ml for nicotine free liquids, £2.00 per 10ml on liquids that contain 0.1-10.9 mg of nicotine per ml, and £3.00 per 10ml on liquids that contain 11mg of nicotine or more per ml. It is proposed that the duty will be chargeable at the point of their manufacture in, or importation into, the UK.
IBVTA Chair, Marcus Saxton, said:
“The government has already proposed regulation that will ban single use products, which despite helping many adult smokers access vaping, have via irresponsible retailers been disproportionately accessible to children.
It would seem a little questionable then to increase the cost of vaping, especially for the higher strength liquids which many smokers need to make the switch, when you’ve still got around six million adult smokers for who you’re trying to give every opportunity to make the transition to less harmful products.
There’s also the potential negative effect of an excise on public services utilising vapes within their smoking cessation services. The IBVTA do not believe that any excise tax should be applied to products supplied via these services.
The IBVTA will be carefully considering the consultation announced today and we look forward to working constructively with HMRC to make sure these proposals are meaningfully enforceable and don’t have unintended consequences.”