Tax and National Insurance
Vape liquid now carries £2.20 duty per 10ml — old stock until March
Vaping Products Duty started on 1 October 2026 at £2.20 per 10ml, and shops can sell stock they already held until 31 March 2027.
£2.20 Duty per 10ml
A new tax on vaping liquid started today. Vaping Products Duty is charged at £2.20 for every 10 millilitres of liquid, and shops can keep selling stock that was made or imported before today, unstamped and duty-free, until 31 March 2027.
It makes no difference whether the liquid contains nicotine. HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) says the duty will reach an estimated 5.1 million people who vape. The Office for Budget Responsibility forecasts it will raise more than £550 million a year by 2030-31.
What it adds to a bottle
The rate works out at 22p a millilitre, and HMRC says the sum is rounded down to the nearest penny. Its own worked example puts a 2ml pod at 44p.
| Size | Duty | Duty with VAT at 20% |
|---|---|---|
| 2ml prefilled pod | £0.44 | £0.53 |
| 10ml bottle | £2.20 | £2.64 |
| 50ml shortfill | £11.00 | £13.20 |
Standard-rate VAT of 20% carries on being charged on vaping products as before. HMRC’s pages on the new duty do not set out the VAT sum, so the last column is our own: the 20% rate applied to the duty. Whether any of it reaches the shelf price is up to the shop — HMRC says passing the cost on or absorbing it “will be a decision for business”.
Tobacco went up by the same amount on the same day
Tobacco duty rose by a one-off £2.20 per 100 cigarettes, and £2.20 per 50 grams on all other tobacco products. The yearly escalator rise — the retail prices index plus 2 percentage points — landed on the same date, so the one-off was on top of it, not instead of it.
The reason is in the government’s own policy paper. It wants to cut “the affordability and appeal of vaping products, particularly among young people and non-smokers, while maintaining the financial incentive for smokers to switch to less harmful alternatives”. Taxing vaping without touching tobacco would have narrowed that gap, so both moved together.
The thing people will get wrong
Prices do not all jump today.
Wholesalers and retailers have six months’ grace. Stock produced or imported before today is not duty-liable and needs no stamp, and they can store and sell it until 31 March 2027. So the price you pay rises as each shop works through what it already holds — this week in one shop, February in another. A shop still selling at the old price is not doing anything wrong.
The stamps run on their own timetable. Transitional stamps without the digital feature can be bought until 30 November 2026 and fixed to products until 31 December 2026. From 1 January 2027 only digital stamps may be fixed, and from 1 April 2027 every vaping product on sale must carry a valid stamp. James Murray, Financial Secretary to the Treasury, said the measures will “help get illicit vapes off high streets across the country”.
And nicotine-free liquid is taxed at the same rate. The duty follows the liquid, not the nicotine.
Where these figures come from
- New Vaping Products Duty comes into effect — HM Revenue and Customs
- Introduction of Vaping Products Duty from 1 October 2026 — HM Revenue and Customs
- Prepare for Vaping Products Duty and the Vaping Duty Stamps Scheme — HM Revenue and Customs
Every figure traces to a dated document — the line this section is named after. If one here is wrong, tell us and it gets fixed publicly. Work out your own figures.