13 July 2026
Vaping Products Duty and the Vaping Duty Stamps Scheme will be introduced on 1 October 2026. It is recommended that you apply by the end of July (see below).
If you're involved in the manufacture of vaping products, or you're an approved customs or excise warehousekeeper, you need to be ready for Vaping Products Duty and the Vaping Duty Stamps Scheme being introduced by the Government on 1 October 2026.
Vaping Products Duty will be charged at a flat rate of £2.20 per 10 ml. This will apply to all vaping liquids, including nicotine-free products. All vaping products released on to the UK market from this date must carry a duty stamp.
You must make sure you have the right approval in place from 1 October 2026 if you want to produce vaping products, or store vaping products in duty suspense, from this date.
What you need to do next
Manufacturers
You must apply for approval if you want to:
- Manufacture vaping products in the UK
- Store vaping products without payment of duty (under duty suspension)
- Purchase or affix vaping duty stamps
Each business must be individually approved. Group applications covering more than one business won't be approved.
You can apply for approval for Vaping Products Duty and the Vaping Duty Stamps Scheme on the GOV.UK website.
If you manufacture vaping products after 1 October 2026 without an approval in place, you may receive penalties of up to £10,000 or be subject to criminal prosecution, potentially leading to prison sentences.
Customs warehousekeepers
To store vaping products from 1 October 2026, you must make sure your approval covers both:
- The storage of vaping products
and - Excise goods
If you have approval to store excise goods, you'll need to apply to amend your approval so that it covers vaping products. This will not happen automatically.
You should contact your supervising office as soon as possible to do this. You can find the contact details for your supervising office in your customs warehousing authorisation letter.
Excise warehousekeepers
To store vaping products from 1 October 2026, you'll need to apply to amend your approval to cover vaping products.
You can apply to add, remove or change a warehouse as an authorised excise warehousekeeper on the GOV.UK website.
If you don't have approval, you won't be able to legally store duty-suspended vaping products in the UK after this date. This may disrupt your business operations. If you do store them without approval, your warehousekeeping approval may be at risk, and you could receive criminal and civil penalties, including potential prison sentences.
Useful information about the application process
Please apply by the end of July 2026.
We carry out robust checks on applications, which can take more than 45 working days to process. If you don't apply by the end of July, it's likely that you won't be approved by 1 October 2026.
More information
For more information about the upcoming changes, go to 'Vaping Products Duty and Vaping Duty Stamps Scheme: detailed information' on the GOV.UK website.
(Source: HM Revenue & Customs)