Introduction

HMRC publications

August 2025

The UK Government is introducing a Vaping Products Duty (VPD) at a flat rate of £2.20 per 10ml of vaping liquid, alongside a Vaping Duty Stamp (VDS) scheme requiring stamps to be affixed to vaping products.  

From 1 April 2026 businesses who manufacture, import or store vaping products in the UK must apply for approval for the VPD and VDS scheme, ahead of them coming into force on 1 October 2026. 

HMRC has published ​https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/preparing-for-vaping-products-duty-and-the-vaping-duty-stamps-scheme to help businesses prepare, covering: 

• Who these duties affect 

• What vaping products are covered 

• Applying for approval 

• Record keeping 

• Next steps and contact information

HMRC published updated guidance in February 2026 ​https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/preparing-for-vaping-products-duty-and-the-vaping-duty-stamps-scheme.

Compulsory preparation

Version upgrades

• Bond v5.13 - preparatory changes to support the new duty, all customers should be updated to this version by the end of August 2026

• Bond v5.14 - the version we’ll be putting customers live on in a staged manner from 1 October 2026 - prepare for delayed submissions to ATWD during the first week of October while we migrate all customers across to the new version.

• Warehousing v7.3 - a new version of Warehousing is required in order to allow warehouses to correctly categorise the different vape products into their ‘types’

Monitor ​https://visionsoftware.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/GI/pages/846954612/Product+Road+Map for the latest expected release dates.

ATWD changes

Inc Day End & Period End changes:

1. WOWGR support officially removed

2. W4, W5 & W6 payment reference changes (supplied by HMRC instead of Vision Bond)

3. W1 structure changes

Vaping Duty

3. W4(D) ATWD messages introduced

4. W1 message structure changes

Vape Stamps

We plan to utilise the existing duty stamps facilities within Vision Warehousing which will need to be reactivated for vape products.

HMRC Q&A’s

Where questions have been asked to HMRC, their responses are as follows:

Vaping stamp ‘types’

Unlike the former alcohol duty stamps scheme, there will not be different ‘types’ of vaping duty stamp (for example by product category such as pre‑filled, refillable, nicotine or nicotine‑free).

There will be a single vaping duty stamp, with liability determined by the Vaping Products Duty (VPD) rules rather than by the stamp itself. All vaping products in scope of the duty will use the same stamp design.

The product distinctions you’ve listed:

• nicotinePrefilled

• nicotineRefillable

• nicotineOther

• nicotineFreePrefilled

• nicotineFreeRefillable

• nicotineFreeOther

relate to data and reporting requirements (including customs and excise messaging such as the ATWD W1), rather than to different physical or digital stamp variants. At present, these categorizations do not affect the type of duty stamp applied and are not specific to the stamp itself.

This means:

• you should plan for a single vaping duty stamp SKU/type, and

• continue to capture product‑level attributes (such as nicotine content and format) for duty and declaration purposes, including W1 messaging where required.

Further technical detail on messages and data requirements will continue to be shared ahead of go‑live, but there is no expectation of multiple stamp types being introduced by product category.

Vaping products stored in customs warehouses & packaged before 1 October 2026

As an important point of clarification, goods held in a customs warehouse are only treated as imported once they are released from that warehouse. This means that vaping products released from a customs warehouse on or after 1 October 2026 will be subject to both Vaping Products Duty (VPD) and the Vaping Duty Stamps (VDS) requirements at that point.

For products that are not held in a customs warehouse, there will be a six-month transitional period running until 1 April 2027. During this time, vaping products that were manufactured or imported before 1 October 2026 can continue to be sold in the UK without a duty stamp and without duty being paid.

From 1 April 2027 onwards, all vaping products in the UK market that are outside duty suspension must carry a duty stamp, regardless of when they were originally manufactured or imported.

With this in mind, businesses should begin planning ahead to ensure they are compliant by 1 April 2027. This may include the:

• sale of unstamped stock before 1 April 2027;

• recall and stamping of unstamped products before 1 April 2027, within approved premises; or

• export or destruction before 1 April 2027, in line with HMRC requirements and record‑keeping obligations.

After 1 April 2027, unstamped products must no longer be available for sale in the UK outside of duty suspension. Businesses will therefore need to manage their production, supply chains and customer arrangements to meet this requirement.

Vaping products already in stock on / before 1 October 2026

1. Goods held in customs duty suspension (e.g. in a customs warehouse)
   Where vaping products are held in a customs warehouse under duty suspension, they are only treated as imported when they are released.

   • If they are released on or after 1 October 2026, they will be subject to:

     • Vaping Products Duty (VPD), and

     • the requirement to carry a valid vaping duty stamp at that point

2. Goods already in free circulation before 1 October 2026
   Where goods have already been imported and are in free circulation (i.e. customs duty has been accounted for) before 1 October 2026, the treatment is different:

   • No VPD is due, as the charge point has already passed prior to the introduction of the duty

   • No immediate stamp requirement applies — there is a transitional period until 1 April 2027, after which all relevant products held for UK consumption must carry a valid duty stamp

Vaping commodity codes & tax code(s)

VPD is due to be introduced on a range of commodity codes in October 2026. We will be introducing new National Additional Codes and Tax Types, and redefining an existing code.

Tax Type 641 and Additional Code X641 for VPD

Tax Type 642 and Additional Code X642 for goods with no VPD chargeable content

Tax Type 640 and Additional Code X640 used with electronic devices under commodity code 8543400000 will be redefined to cover electronic devices with no tobacco and no VPD products content

When Additional Code X641 is declared, CDS will mandate declaration of a tax base quantity in litres in DE 4/4.

Essentially, commodity codes with VPD potentially payable will require declaration of either the VPD Additional Code (X641) or the appropriate code (X642 or X640) to declare that the goods are not liable to VPD.

…specifically for commodity codes:

• Existing commodity codes will continue to be used for customs declarations.

• The VPD/VDS requirements will apply based on whether the goods meet the definition of a vaping product, rather than a specific new code structure.

How will EMCS be affected?

As of June 2026 HMRC have shared only the following information with developers:

At present, no detailed technical information on how vaping products will be handled within EMCS (including product codes and quantity fields) has been circulated to developers.

We can confirm that movements of vaping products under duty suspension are expected to use EMCS in line with existing excise processes. However, the detailed design — including product types and data requirements — is still under development.

We can also confirm that a new excise product code, V000, will apply to all movements of goods subject to Vaping Products Duty (VPD).

Further technical information will be shared with developers ahead of implementation. Providing this detail in good time remains a key priority for the programme, and updates will be issued as soon as they are available.