New Vape Tax uk

[DreamRJ]

Hi, long time since I used the forum.

I kinda feel bad I neglected it.

Anyway as the title suggests I did try searching the forum for a thread already for the UK new vape tax but I could not find any. Or I was blind haha.

So the questions I have is as follows.

1:> Will the new vape tax also be on the VG/PG if you are DIY?
2:> if answer 1 is yes then would that also mean that any food products that also use those ingredients also go up in price too because of the tax? Would that not increase inflation again?
3:> Would I still be able to buy the base mix from outside the uk from an online shop to avoid paying the new tax?

I mean honestly it is really to much. I used to do DIY and the last 2 years I been doing premade juice, I still do RTA, but just went down the pre made juice more convenient to nip to my local vape shop than order and wait days for the delivery and then make the juice. I know I am spending more. But surely it will not be as cheap now when this new tax comes into force in October 2026.

I might have to find another method. But atm I can not think of a way around it, I searched for a few hours but I can not really pin point any workarounds. Maybe because it has not been introduced yet so no one has been able to find loopholes.

Surely there will be a way to get the juice cheaper?

The vape shop I use they sell 120ml bottles + shots for free for either £10/£12/£15 depends on the brand. So after the tax how much will they cost? will it really be £22 more so £32/£34/£37?

Thanks all. If I am slow to reply I am sorry I will try to remember to check but I will probably forget to check for replies.

 

[bombastinator]

Re 1: I dont see how it could be. Pg & vg both have primary uses that are not vaping. Even if it is you could just buy “non vaping” stuff as is done with batteries now. Big food service companies wouldn’t put up with having their vg or pg taxed. If this new tax is on liquid nicotine (I don’t know one way or the other) that would be difficult as well, though less so. Nicotine is a last ditch insecticide for some nasty invasive species like emerald borer beetle, but it’s so difficult to administer people generally just cut down the tree. Only “famous trees” might receive such treatment. As a result it’s very rarely used, and wouldn’t run into pushback the way pg & vg would.

 

[DreamRJ]

Re 1: I dont see how it could be. Pg & vg both have primary uses that are not vaping. Even if it is you could just buy “non vaping” stuff as is done with batteries now. Big food service companies wouldn’t put up with having their vg or pg taxed. If this new tax is on liquid nicotine (I don’t know one way or the other) that would be difficult as well, though less so. Nicotine is a last ditch insecticide for some nasty invasive species like emerald borer beetle, but it’s so difficult to administer people generally just cut down the tree. Only “famous trees” might receive such treatment. As a result it’s very rarely used, and wouldn’t run into pushback the way pg & vg would.

But when I google search, the new stupid AI says yes it will be applied to VG/PG too, But when I tried to find more info from official media or government sites, I could not find anything that stated if the tax was on the VG/PG too or just the nicotine like you stated.

But why are vape websites stating it would be around £37 if it was just on the nicotine shots? Nic shots for me a 100mil bottle I use 1 and half 10ml in it to make it nearly 120mil bottle. So for me that would only be £3.30 more for the shots.

So I think they are taxing the entire thing even though the nicotine is not allowed by law to be inside the bottles. They have to be added manually.

That is why I made this thread. We need to find out the truth and get facts, so maybe this could be an ongoing thread that we can keep updating when we find out more facts about the upcoming tax.

 

[DreamRJ]

IS there not many people in the UK on this forum? Just confused why lack of responses on such a big incoming change coming to the UK vape market?

 

[bombastinator]

I know I’m not. I’m getting the impression from this that a lot of regulators, sellers,and users don’t actually know how the stuff is made, or the tax aggressively supports DIY. If a a given volume of a high dose nicotine mixture (100mg/ml base liquid is only 10% nicotine) is taxed at the same rate as 10 ml of 3mg/ml juice, they will eventually be separated and mixed later to lower taxes as nicotine is the ONLY thing they will be able to tax. So 1 ml of nic containing liquid (containing the same amount of nicotine as the original 10ml bottle + 9ml of 0 nic juice. It also promotes the use of much higher molarity liquids as this is effectively an economy.

So it’s going to kill people. Not now, but as people work to minimize the effect on their pocketbook. High enough molarity nicotine is very dangerous. It’s hard for a grownup (though not a baby) to die from touching 100 mg/ml liquid, but it can go up to close to 1000mg/ml (irrc the powdered crystal is something like 1100 or so, and has to be dealt with wearing a bunny suit) and liquid WILL push into higher territory if concentration is ignored.

this strikes me as potentially a VERY DUMB law That is extremely poorly designed.

 

[DreamRJ]

I know I’m not. I’m getting the impression from this that a lot of regulators, sellers,and users don’t actually know how the stuff is made, or the tax aggressively supports DIY. If a a given volume of a high dose nicotine mixture (100mg/ml base liquid is only 10% nicotine) is taxed at the same rate as 10 ml of 3mg/ml juice, they will eventually be separated and mixed later to lower taxes as nicotine is the ONLY thing they will be able to tax. So 1 ml of nic containing liquid (containing the same amount of nicotine as the original 10ml bottle + 9ml of 0 nic juice. It also promotes the use of much higher molarity liquids as this is effectively an economy.

So it’s going to kill people. Not now, but as people work to minimize the effect on their pocketbook. High enough molarity nicotine is very dangerous. It’s hard for a grownup (though not a baby) to die from touching 100 mg/ml liquid, but it can go up to close to 1000mg/ml (irrc the powdered crystal is something like 1100 or so, and has to be dealt with wearing a bunny suit) and liquid WILL push into higher territory if concentration is ignored.

this strikes me as potentially a VERY DUMB law That is extremely poorly designed.

I got no idea what you are talking about but it is not really in response to what I asked lol.

I want to know why it is being stated regardless if it has nicotine in the juice or not will be taxed as well.

And from what I have read since posting this thread the answer is YES!

LOOK! In the UK currently - shops can not sell e-liquid with nicotine in them. You have to buy the "nic shots" and then add the shots yourself.

The new tax applies to both the juice without and the nic shots. Regardless. So your rambling about the nicotine only is incorrect. I read the government papers on it. And it states clearly that it is on ALL ingredients.

But like I said if that is the case then that would hurt every food company that also use VG/PG/Flavourings in their food and drink products!

Prices of all those items will drastically increase 100% because of the tax.

If somehow the tax is not going to be applied on them if you say went to a online shop that sold cake flavour concentrates and then went to a online shop and bought the VG/PG base mix. I do not know yet until October 2026 comes, but that is what we need to know?

Because if everyone is going to switch to DIY juice then we need to know well before hand, so we can either stock up before October 2026 comes around or just quit vaping altogether.

 

[Kadeutex]

I just saw the news about the new vape tax in the UK. It’s a bit of a bummer, isn’t it? I mean, vapes have already made a name for themselves as a better alternative for some folks looking to quit smoking, and now this tax feels like it’s just going to push more people away from them.

 

[DreamRJ]

I just saw the news about the new vape tax in the UK. It’s a bit of a bummer, isn’t it? I mean, vapes have already made a name for themselves as a better alternative for some folks looking to quit smoking, and now this tax feels like it’s just going to push more people away from them.

Yep exactly

But they are also making them unaffordable to most people who are already struggling as well. Vapes was cheaper alternative to smoking and now they will be just as expensive as smoking with the new tax

 

[bombastinator]

I got no idea what you are talking about but it is not really in response to what I asked lol.

I want to know why it is being stated regardless if it has nicotine in the juice or not will be taxed as well.

And from what I have read since posting this thread the answer is YES!

LOOK! In the UK currently - shops can not sell e-liquid with nicotine in them. You have to buy the "nic shots" and then add the shots yourself.

The new tax applies to both the juice without and the nic shots. Regardless. So your rambling about the nicotine only is incorrect. I read the government papers on it. And it states clearly that it is on ALL ingredients.

But like I said if that is the case then that would hurt every food company that also use VG/PG/Flavourings in their food and drink products!

Prices of all those items will drastically increase 100% because of the tax.

If somehow the tax is not going to be applied on them if you say went to a online shop that sold cake flavour concentrates and then went to a online shop and bought the VG/PG base mix. I do not know yet until October 2026 comes, but that is what we need to know?

Because if everyone is going to switch to DIY juice then we need to know well before hand, so we can either stock up before October 2026 comes around or just quit vaping altogether.

If it wasn’t then I don’t understand what you are asking in the first place. It did seem kind of garbled. I got the impression you were asking what is being taxed and how. I don’t know the specifics of the particular law, but from what you were saying it appeared that the law was not paying attention to what the nic content of a liquid is. Merely where it came from or whether it contains any amount of nicotine. What they need to tax is milligrams of nicotine unless they are trying to drive people in a particular direction. And that behavior has a history of being very unreliable. If they are not paying attention to to amounts but merely taxing nic liquids the same regardless of content, I think people are going to die. What you said implies they are. It may not actually work that way of course. It sounds like it’s not actually the same tax, but two different taxes of the same rate in the same bill. I’m betting, based on what you say, that both nicotine shots and non-nicotine vaping products are going to be taxed. But the constituents of the non-nicotine juice are very difficult to tax. I suspect they will only be taxed, if they even are then, when they are combined in such a way to make a non-nic vape juice. If non-nic vape juice is getting taxed, it’s an attempt to push the public to DIY, as that is a way to avoid the tax on non-nic vape juice. This may not go the way they hope. People invent things like bump stocks and windows in roofs and sailing ships shaped like barrels. One thing that comes to mind is PG and VG are NOT the only things that can be used as bases. They’re merely the most convenient and therefore the best ones. Another way to do it is VG and PG are also constituents of things like tooth paste and hand cream. One could, for example, create a hand cream that just happens to be vapable. Such things actually already exist, and existed before vaping was even invented. They’re opening a pandoraks box here. The ramifications haven’ t been worked out, but they will be.

 

[DreamRJ]

If it wasn’t then I don’t understand what you are asking in the first place. It did seem kind of garbled. I got the impression you were asking what is being taxed and how. I don’t know the specifics of the particular law, but from what you were saying it appeared that the law was not paying attention to what the nic content of a liquid is. Merely where it came from or whether it contains any amount of nicotine. What they need to tax is milligrams of nicotine unless they are trying to drive people in a particular direction. And that behavior has a history of being very unreliable. If they are not paying attention to to amounts but merely taxing nic liquids the same regardless of content, I think people are going to die. What you said implies they are. It may not actually work that way of course. It sounds like it’s not actually the same tax, but two different taxes of the same rate in the same bill. I’m betting, based on what you say, that both nicotine shots and non-nicotine vaping products are going to be taxed. But the constituents of the non-nicotine juice are very difficult to tax. I suspect they will only be taxed, if they even are then, when they are combined in such a way to make a non-nic vape juice. If non-nic vape juice is getting taxed, it’s an attempt to push the public to DIY, as that is a way to avoid the tax on non-nic vape juice. This may not go the way they hope. People invent things like bump stocks and windows in roofs and sailing ships shaped like barrels. One thing that comes to mind is PG and VG are NOT the only things that can be used as bases. They’re merely the most convenient and therefore the best ones. Another way to do it is VG and PG are also constituents of things like tooth paste and hand cream. One could, for example, create a hand cream that just happens to be vapable. Such things actually already exist, and existed before vaping was even invented. They’re opening a pandoraks box here. The ramifications haven’ t been worked out, but they will be.

Yeah but that was painful to read, please from now on use paragraphs and separate your posts into formatted statements so it is easier on the eyes.

Thanks for the reply, I suppose yes we will find out in the coming months and next 2 years what will fully happen.

 

[bombastinator]

Yeah but that was painful to read, please from now on use paragraphs and separate your posts into formatted statements so it is easier on the eyes.

Thanks for the reply, I suppose yes we will find out in the coming months and next 2 years what will fully happen.

There will be local legislation interacting with national stuff, so how it behaves will be slightly different from place to place. Legal precedent will also play a part.

 

[Kadeutex]

I just saw the news about the new vape tax in the UK. It’s a bit of a bummer, isn’t it? I mean, vapes have already made a name for themselves as a better alternative for some folks looking to quit smoking, and now this tax feels like it’s just going to push more people away from them.

It’s like, come on, we’re trying to make healthier choices here!
It could also mean companies might increase their game with better products to justify the cost. I've found some decent options on sites like fryd.us.com , where the variety is pretty impressive. Still, I hope it doesn’t become a major hassle for us vapers.

 

[bombastinator]

It’s like, come on, we’re trying to make healthier choices here!
It could also mean companies might increase their game with better products to justify the cost. I've found some decent options on sites like fryd.us.com , where the variety is pretty impressive. Still, I hope it doesn’t become a major hassle for us vapers.

Looked at that link. It’s a juice company that puts their juice in disposables. They’ve got like 12 products

 

[bombastinator]

Yeah but that was painful to read, please from now on use paragraphs and separate your posts into formatted statements so it is easier on the eyes.

Thanks for the reply, I suppose yes we will find out in the coming months and next 2 years what will fully happen.

Yeah I looked at again and it did have that text wall vibe.

What I frequently do is a text wall, post it and then edit it over the next hour or so. I think I got called away or something early in the process.
So it starts ugly and gets more readable as typos are removed and things get added or reworded. If something is awful check back in a few hours generally and it’s better.

My typing is also really bad and autocorrect does the weirdest things. My favorite is turning “is” into ”isn’t”. That one causes serious problems.