1st October 2026
Vaping has just become more expensive in Britain.
A new Vaping Products Duty comes into force today, 1 October 2026, introducing an excise duty on vaping liquid for the first time. The duty is £2.20 for every 10 millilitres of liquid, or 22p for every millilitre. (HMRC) (GOV.UK)
For somebody who buys vaping products regularly, that could make a noticeable difference over a year.
But the immediate question for consumers is rather simpler.
How much more will I actually pay?
The answer depends on the amount of liquid in the product and on how much of the new tax the manufacturer, wholesaler and retailer pass on.
The Government is charging the duty to manufacturers, importers and approved warehousekeepers rather than directly to the person buying the vape. Businesses then decide how much of the additional cost to pass on.
HMRC explicitly says that the duty will increase businesses' costs, but whether those costs are absorbed by businesses or passed to consumers is a commercial decision. (GOV.UK)
That means there is no single compulsory retail-price increase.
But we can calculate the tax itself.
The basic calculation is simple
The new duty is charged at £2.20 per 10ml.
That means a product containing 2ml has £0.44 of duty.
A 10ml bottle has £2.20.
A 20ml quantity has £4.40.
A 50ml quantity has £11.
A 100ml quantity has £22.
HMRC confirms that the duty applies at the same rate whether or not the liquid contains nicotine. (HMRC)
That is worth noting because consumers might reasonably assume that a tax intended partly to discourage vaping would depend upon how much nicotine a product contains.
It doesn't.
The tax is based on volume of vaping liquid.
What about VAT?
There is another important part of the calculation.
Vaping Products Duty is an excise duty, and VAT continues to apply to vaping products. (HMRC)
So if a retailer passes the entire £2.20 duty increase on to the customer, VAT means the final retail-price effect can be greater than £2.20.
At today's standard VAT rate of 20%, an illustrative £2.20 increase in the taxable price would mean another 44p of VAT.
That gives a possible total consumer-price increase of about £2.64 on a 10ml bottle, assuming the entire duty is passed through and ignoring any changes in retailer margins or other costs.
The same calculation would produce approximately:
2ml: 53p
10ml: £2.64
20ml: £5.28
50ml: £13.20
100ml: £26.40
These are illustrations of the tax plus VAT, not predictions of the eventual shelf price.
A retailer could absorb some of the tax.
A manufacturer could absorb some.
Alternatively, businesses facing higher costs elsewhere could increase prices by more than the tax itself.
That is why consumers should look at actual prices rather than assume that every product will rise by exactly the figures above.
Not every vape will suddenly cost more today
There is an important transitional arrangement.
The new duty applies to vaping products manufactured in, or imported into, the UK from today.
But retailers can continue selling unstamped stock they already hold before the new system until 31 March 2027.
New duty-liable stock entering the market must have the new vaping-duty stamp. (HMRC)
This means that two shops selling apparently identical products could potentially charge different prices for a period of time.
One may still have old stock acquired before the duty took effect.
Another may already be selling new duty-paid stock.
So the change consumers see today may be uneven.
The full effect is likely to become more obvious as old stock works its way through the retail system.
Why is the Government introducing the tax?
The stated objective is not simply to raise money.
HMRC says the Government wants to reduce the affordability and appeal of vaping, particularly among young people and non-smokers, while maintaining a financial incentive for smokers to switch to vaping as a less harmful alternative. (HMRC)
It is therefore intended as both a tax measure and a public-health measure.
The Government expects the new duty to affect an estimated 5.1 million people who vape.
HMRC says heavy vapers will face the highest burden because they use the greatest quantity of liquid. (HMRC)
That makes intuitive sense.
Someone using 10ml every few weeks will face much less additional tax than somebody consuming 10ml every few days.
There is an interesting comparison with tobacco
The Government has been conscious of one possible unintended consequence.
If vaping becomes substantially more expensive while cigarettes remain comparatively more attractive financially, some people could potentially return to smoking.
HMRC's impact assessment explicitly identifies the possibility that people may respond to higher vape prices by moving to tobacco products.
That is why tobacco duty is also being increased at the same time.
From today, there is an additional £2.20 duty increase per 100 cigarettes and per 50g of other tobacco products, on top of the existing tobacco-duty escalator. The Government says this is intended to preserve the financial incentive for smokers to choose vaping rather than return to tobacco. (HMRC)
So today's change is not simply:
“Tax vapes.”
It is more complicated.
The Government is trying to raise the cost of vaping while maintaining a price difference between vaping and smoking.
Whether that produces the intended behaviour will need to be assessed over time.
It is also a new system for businesses
The duty is not simply a number added to an invoice.
Manufacturers, importers and certain warehousekeepers have had to prepare for a completely new excise-duty system.
HMRC says around 200 manufacturers and up to 750 importers and warehousekeepers could be affected, with businesses having to register, calculate their liabilities and submit regular returns. (HMRC)
There is also a new Vaping Duty Stamps Scheme.
New duty-liable products released onto the UK market must carry a duty stamp, while existing unstamped stock has the transitional period described above.
HMRC says the stamps are intended partly to improve traceability and help tackle illicit trade. (HMRC)
That raises an important issue.
Whenever a Government substantially increases the tax on a widely used consumer product, there is a risk that some consumers seek cheaper alternatives outside the legitimate market.
The Government is therefore putting additional resources into enforcement.
It has announced £30 million of new funding each year until 2028/29 for Trading Standards, Border Force and HMRC to tackle illicit and underage sales of tobacco and vapes. (HMRC)
How much could it cost a regular vaper?
This is where the 22p-per-millilitre figure becomes meaningful.
Imagine somebody uses 10ml a week.
At £2.20 duty per 10ml, that represents £2.20 a week in duty.
Over a year that would be £114.40 of duty.
With 20% VAT added to that amount if the whole duty is passed through, the illustrative annual increase becomes about £137.28.
Someone using 5ml a week would face about half that amount.
Someone using 20ml a week would face roughly twice as much.
These are simply calculations of the tax burden. Actual consumer costs depend on how businesses respond.
But they show why HMRC says heavy vapers will face the greatest burden. (HMRC)
What happens to nicotine-free vaping?
There is another point which could catch consumers out.
Nicotine-free vaping liquid is also covered.
The Finance Act defines a vaping product broadly enough to include liquid intended to be vaporised by a vape, and HMRC's guidance explicitly says the £2.20 rate applies whether or not the liquid contains nicotine. (Finance Act 2026) (HMRC)
So this isn't simply a tax on nicotine.
It is a tax on the volume of vaping liquid.
Will the price rise be exactly £2.20?
No.
This distinction is important.
The Government has not instructed retailers to add £2.20 to every 10ml product.
The duty is charged earlier in the supply chain.
If a manufacturer absorbs part of it, the shop-price increase could be smaller.
If the manufacturer, wholesaler and retailer all pass on additional costs and adjust their margins, the increase could be larger.
The £2.20 therefore gives us a tax benchmark, not a guaranteed shelf-price increase.
And because VAT applies, a full pass-through of the duty itself would produce a consumer-price effect of approximately £2.64 per 10ml before considering any other commercial pricing decisions.
Why might prices rise gradually?
The transitional stock arrangement makes this particularly relevant.
A retailer with several months' worth of old stock may not immediately change its prices.
Another retailer receiving newly manufactured or imported duty-paid products will face the additional cost sooner.
This means that consumers could see a mixture of prices during the coming months.
The Government allows unstamped stock already held by retailers before 1 October to be sold until 31 March 2027.
From 1 April 2027, the duty-stamp requirements become fully operational for products outside duty-suspension arrangements. (HMRC)
By then, the distinction between old and new stock should largely have disappeared.
Another tax arrives during an already expensive period
There is a broader consumer angle here.
Today's vaping duty comes into force at the same time as a number of other changes affecting household budgets.
Energy prices have just changed.
Diesel has reached exceptionally high levels.
Food prices remain substantially above their pre-pandemic level.
Council tax has increased in Highland.
And many households are already finding that several relatively modest increases have combined into a much more noticeable squeeze.
For somebody who vapes, today's new tax is another cost.
For a heavy vaper, it could be a significant annual amount.
For occasional users, the effect may be much smaller.
The Government's policy objective is to make vaping less affordable, especially for young people and non-smokers.
But the financial effect will not be distributed evenly.
It will depend on how much a person vapes, what products they use and whether retailers pass the full duty through into their prices.
The next question is whether it works
That is probably the most important issue to watch.
Will young people be less likely to start vaping because it becomes more expensive?
Will existing vapers reduce their consumption?
Will smokers continue to see vaping as financially attractive compared with tobacco?
Will some people turn to illicit products?
And will legitimate retailers lose business to unregulated sellers?
The Government has put the tax and enforcement system in place.
But a tax can be measured very quickly while its behavioural effects take much longer to establish.
The first thing consumers will notice is much simpler.
The price label on some vaping products will gradually change.
The new duty is now part of the cost of bringing vaping liquid onto the British market.
A 10ml quantity carries £2.20 of excise duty.
With VAT, a complete pass-through could mean around £2.64 added to the final price.
But the actual increase at the till will depend on the commercial decisions made throughout the supply chain.
So the headline is clear.
Vapes are now taxed for the first time in Britain.
The Government is hoping that higher prices will reduce their appeal.
Consumers will soon discover how much of that £2.20 ultimately comes out of their own pockets.