Vaping products duty starts on 1 October 2026: what producers, importers and sellers must do

What is changing

Vaping products duty is a new excise duty. It is law: section 115 of the Finance Act 2026 charges it on vaping products produced in, or imported into, the United Kingdom, and section 141 brings that charge into force on 1 October 2026.

The duty is charged at £2.20 per 10 millilitres of vaping liquid, rounded down to the nearest penny. That is 22p per millilitre, so a 2ml pod carries 44p of duty and a 10ml refill bottle carries £2.20.

The duty applies to the liquid, not the device. A "vaping product" is a liquid that either contains nicotine together with glycerine or a glycol, or is intended to be vaporised by a vape (section 116). Nicotine-free liquids are therefore in scope, as are liquids that have to be mixed before use. Medicinal products and tobacco products are not.

Alongside the duty, vaping products must carry a vaping duty stamp fixed to the outermost retail packaging, so the packaging cannot be opened without damaging the packaging or the stamp. The duty and the stamps scheme apply across the whole of the UK.

Who is affected

The duty reaches every business in the vaping supply chain, but what it asks of you depends on what you do.

• You need HMRC approval if you manufacture vaping products in the UK (including mixing or bottling your own liquids), store vaping products without paying duty in duty suspension, or buy and fix duty stamps. That covers UK manufacturers, excise and customs warehousekeepers, and UK representatives acting for overseas manufacturers.
• You must pay the duty if you import vaping products into the UK, unless the goods go into duty suspension. Businesses in Northern Ireland that acquire vaping products from EU member states are also affected.
• You do not need approval if you only sell or distribute duty-paid vaping products, by wholesale or retail. That includes convenience stores, specialist vape shops, cash and carry businesses, distributors and online sellers. You do need to check the stock you buy and keep records.

Mixing or processing substances into a vaping product counts as producing it, and so does packaging, labelling or advertising a liquid on which duty has not been paid so as to show it is for vaping (section 117).

If you make, import or store vaping products

From 1 October 2026 you must have the right approval before you manufacture vaping products, store them in duty suspension, or buy or fix duty stamps. HMRC asks for applications at least 45 working days before you intend to start, and approval is for a single legal entity. If you apply now, HMRC may not have decided your application by 1 October. Carrying on those activities without approval from that date can lead to civil or criminal sanctions.

Duty becomes payable at the excise duty point:

• for vaping products made in the UK, at the point of manufacture, unless they go straight into duty suspension;
• for imports, normally through your customs declaration when the goods are released, unless they go straight into duty suspension; and
• for goods held in duty suspension, when they leave it.

Duty is calculated on the volume of liquid. Where the packaging, the invoice and the measured volume disagree, HMRC may use the greatest of them, so keep evidence of how you measure.

Approved manufacturers, warehousekeepers and UK representatives can buy transitional duty stamps until 30 November 2026 and fix them until 31 December 2026. From 1 January 2027 only digital stamps, which carry a code scanned at set points in the supply chain, can be fixed. Stamped products must not be released onto the UK market before 1 October 2026, and products made in or imported into the UK on or after that date must be stamped.

Since 18 May 2026 it has been an offence for anyone who is not an approved stamp holder to possess a duty stamp that has not been fixed to a product, or to transfer such a stamp outside the approved chain (section 129).

If you sell vaping products wholesale or retail

You do not need to register or apply to HMRC if you only sell or distribute duty-paid vaping products. The duty changes what you can buy and how long you can keep selling old stock.

• From 1 October 2026, new stock should carry a vaping duty stamp. Check that the stamp is on the outermost retail packaging and seals it.
• From 1 October 2026 to 31 March 2027, you can keep selling unstamped stock that was produced or imported before 1 October 2026. If you are offered unstamped products after 1 October, ask for evidence that they were made or imported before that date. If you cannot satisfy yourself that they are legitimate, do not buy them.
• From 1 April 2027, every vaping product outside duty suspension must carry a valid stamp. Any unstamped stock left must be sold before then, or returned to your supplier, exported, destroyed or otherwise lawfully dealt with.

Whether suppliers pass the duty on to you in their prices is a commercial decision. Talk to your suppliers now about when they will switch to stamped products and how that affects your ordering.

Records to keep

If you sell, store or handle vaping products, HMRC expects you to keep records for at least 6 years showing:

• where your vaping products came from, with the supplier's name, address and contact details;
• invoice numbers, delivery notes and the dates you received stock;
• what you bought, held, supplied and sold;
• when unstamped products were produced or imported; and
• the checks you made and what you did when products were unstamped, unclear or appeared non-compliant.

These records matter most during the grace period. If you sell unstamped stock between 1 October 2026 and 31 March 2027, they are how you show it could still be sold. Businesses that make, import, store, move or stamp vaping products have wider record-keeping duties under their approval.

What to do now

If you make, import or store vaping products, or represent an overseas manufacturer:

• Check whether you have the approval you need, and apply straight away if you do not.
• Get access to the Manage your Vaping Products Duty online service, and set up monthly payment by the 15th.
• Plan your use of transitional stamps around the 30 November and 31 December 2026 cut-offs, and prepare for digital stamps from 1 January 2027.
• Set up volume measurement and records that will support the duty you declare.

If you sell vaping products wholesale or retail:

• Count your unstamped stock and plan to sell it, or return it, before 1 April 2027.
• Ask your suppliers when they will supply stamped products.
• Train staff to check for a stamp on new deliveries from 1 October 2026 and to refuse unstamped stock that cannot be shown to pre-date that day.
• Start keeping the records listed above now.