UK Vape Tax 2026: How Much E-Liquid Prices Will Rise

From 1 October 2026, every 10ml of e-liquid sold in the UK picks up a £2.20 excise duty. Add VAT on top and the real increase is £2.64 per 10ml. That's on everything, 0mg included, because the government went with a flat rate based on volume rather than nicotine content.

It's called the Vaping Products Duty (VPD) and it works the same way as duty on alcohol or tobacco. First time e-liquid has ever carried its own excise charge in the UK.

How Much Is Vape Juice Going Up

Depends on what you buy. A 10ml nic salt roughly doubles in price. Shortfills get hammered.

Product	Typical Price Now	Duty Added	Duty + VAT	Estimated New Price
10ml nic salt	£3.49	£2.20	£2.64	~£6.13
10ml freebase	£3.49	£2.20	£2.64	~£6.13
2ml prefilled pod	Varies	£0.44	£0.53	+ ~53p per pod
50ml shortfill	£9.99	£11.00	£13.20	~£23.19
100ml shortfill	£14.99	£22.00	£26.40	~£41.39
10ml nic shot	£0.99	£2.20	£2.64	~£3.63

Those numbers assume the full duty lands on the customer. Some brands will absorb part of it, so real prices will vary.

If you're on nic salts , the duty nearly matches the cost of the liquid itself. Shortfill buyers take the worst of it because duty is charged on every 10ml in the bottle, and a 100ml has ten of them.

Vape kits, coils, empty pods, tanks, and batteries stay untaxed. The duty is on liquid only.

Does the UK Vape Tax Apply to 0mg E-Liquid

Yes, and this is the part that caught a lot of people off guard. 0mg shortfills, CBD vape liquids, any liquid made for vaping, all taxed at the same £2.20 per 10ml as a 20mg nic salt.

The original proposal under Jeremy Hunt was a tiered rate based on nicotine strength. Labour scrapped that and went flat rate by volume instead. So nicotine content makes no difference to what you pay.

When Does the UK Vape Tax Start

Date	What Happens
1 April 2026	HMRC registration opens for manufacturers and importers
1 October 2026	Vaping Products Duty takes effect, duty stamps required on packaging
1 October 2026 to 31 March 2027	Grace period for unstamped stock already in retail
1 April 2027	All e-liquid on UK shelves must carry a duty stamp

On top of the tax itself, every bottle and pod of e-liquid will need a physical duty stamp on the packaging from October 2026. Same idea as the stamps you see on tobacco and spirits. HMRC has appointed Cartor Security Printers to supply them. After 31 March 2027, selling unstamped stock could mean civil or criminal penalties.

Current UK E-Liquid Regulations

Before the vape tax even arrives, e-liquid already sits under the Tobacco and Related Products Regulations (TRPR). These carried over from the EU's TPD after Brexit and have been the baseline since 2016.

Rule	Requirement
Nicotine strength	20mg/ml maximum
Bottle size (nicotine)	10ml maximum for any liquid containing nicotine
Tank and pod capacity	2ml maximum
MHRA registration	All products must be registered before sale
Child resistant caps	Required on all nicotine e-liquid
Labelling	Health warnings and ingredient lists on all packaging

Shortfills exist because of the 10ml bottle rule. They're sold nicotine free at 50ml or 100ml, and you add a separate nic shot. After October 2026, both the shortfill and the nic shot carry the vape tax on their own volumes.

Ecigone has a full guide to UK vaping laws and TPD regulations if you want the detail. There's also a 2025 to 2026 legislation compliance guide covering the disposable ban and what changed.

What This Means for Ecigone Customers

We'll do everything we can to keep prices as low as possible on bottled and prefilled e-liquid. That's always been the Ecigone approach and a new tax doesn't change it.

If you're a regular buyer, stocking up before October 2026 is worth thinking about while current prices hold. Once the duty kicks in, it makes sense to let the market settle and see what comes through. Brands are already working on super concentrated longfills and other formats to offset the shortfill price jump. New options should start appearing over the coming months.

Shortfill vapers get the roughest deal here. Many of them have been vaping for over a decade and kept the industry alive through every regulation change since TPD landed. Over £26 in extra duty on a 100ml bottle is a hard pill. But vaping still costs a fraction of what smoking does, and the industry has adapted to everything thrown at it since 2016. It'll adapt to this too.

Frequently Asked Questions

Are vapes taxed in the UK?

Not yet. From 1 October 2026, a new Vaping Products Duty adds £2.20 per 10ml to all e-liquid. Right now you're only paying 20% VAT on vape juice. After October 2026, the excise duty stacks on top of that.

How much is vape liquid going up in price?

About £2.64 per 10ml once you add VAT to the duty. So a 10ml nic salt goes up by that amount, a 50ml shortfill by around £13.20, and a 100ml shortfill by roughly £26.40. How much of that each brand passes on will vary.

Is the vape tax in the 2025 budget?

Jeremy Hunt announced it in the Spring Budget 2024. Rachel Reeves confirmed it in the Autumn Budget 2024 and changed it from a tiered rate to a flat rate. The legislation sits in the Finance Bill 2025 to 2026 and the duty goes live 1 October 2026.

If e-liquid has 0mg nicotine, is it still taxed?

Yes, same rate. The duty is £2.20 per 10ml regardless of what's in the bottle. A 100ml 0mg shortfill pays exactly the same as a 10ml 20mg nic salt per ml of liquid.

Will vape kits go up in price because of the vape tax?

No. VPD only covers e-liquid. Kits, coils, empty pods, tanks, batteries, none of those are taxed. The only hardware affected is prefilled pods, and only because they've got liquid inside them.

When do vapes go up in price?

1 October 2026. That's when the duty starts. Between then and 31 March 2027, shops can still sell older unstamped stock, so there may be some clearance deals worth looking out for.