Vape tax by country: what a 10 ml bottle really costs in tax

Vape taxes are almost impossible to compare as published, because countries tax three completely different things:

Per millilitre of liquid — the UK, Germany, Czechia, Korea, Malaysia.
A percentage of the price — most US states, and some Canadian provinces.
Per device, or per gram of tobacco — Malaysia taxes devices at 10% ad valorem; Japan taxes heated tobacco by stick weight.

A “50% tax” and a “£2.20 per 10 ml” tax are not the same measurement. So below, everything is converted to one number: the tax on a 10 ml bottle of 20 mg liquid, in local currency and a rough euro equivalent at November 2026 rates.

The comparison

Country	Basis	Rate	Tax on 10 ml	Notes
Canada (coordinated provinces)	Per ml + provincial match	C$1.12 per 2 ml (first 10 ml)	C$11.20 (~€7)	Federal duty is doubled where the province joined the coordinated system
Germany	Per ml	€0.32	€3.20	Rate applies in law; a 2026 drafting error left the 2026 figure out of the statute
Czechia	Per ml	CZK 7.50	CZK 75 (~€3.0)	Rising on a published schedule: 5 → 7.5 → 10 by 2027
South Korea	Per ml	KRW 628	KRW 6,280 (~€4)	National consumption tax only; other levies stack on top
United Kingdom	Per ml	£2.20	£2.20 (~€2.5)	Applies to 0 mg liquid too; plus 20% VAT
Lithuania	Per ml	€0.25	€2.50	One of the earlier Baltic adopters
Malaysia	Per ml	MYR 0.40	MYR 4.00 (~€0.8)	Ministry of Health has proposed MYR 4.00/ml — a tenfold rise
United States	Mostly ad valorem	0% to ~70% of price	Varies wildly	No federal excise; a handful of states charge per ml (US$0.05–0.40/ml)
Australia	Not a retail tax market	—	—	Pharmacy-only supply; the opposition has proposed A$0.50/ml
Japan	No nicotine-liquid market	—	—	Nicotine liquid is an unapproved drug; heated tobacco is taxed as tobacco

Two things jump out. Canada is the most expensive place on this list to buy liquid, by a wide margin, and the UK is not the outlier people assume — at £2.20 per 10 ml it sits in the middle of the European pack.

Country by country

Canada: the doubling trick

The federal duty is C$1.12 per 2 ml for the first 10 ml, then C$1.12 per 10 ml after that. On a 10 ml bottle that is five increments, or C$5.60.

The catch is the coordinated provincial system: ten provinces and territories apply the same duty again on top, doubling it to C$11.20. On top of that, British Columbia, Saskatchewan and Newfoundland and Labrador levy their own 20% tax on vapour products.

For a 30 ml bottle the marginal rate drops sharply — only the first 10 ml is charged at the 2 ml increment — which is why large-format liquid survives in Canada while small bottles get crushed.

Germany: the tax that briefly vanished

Germany has taxed e-liquid since July 2022 on a rising scale, reaching €0.32 per ml in 2026. The arithmetic is brutal: a 10 ml bottle carries €3.20 of duty before VAT.

Except — in October 2026 the replacement statute was published with the 2026 rate missing. On the face of the wording, nicotine liquid became untaxed until the law was corrected. Industry associations and tax lawyers read it that way; the ministry signalled a fix. Nobody knows yet whether the correction is retroactive.

If you are pricing a German product this quarter, model both outcomes. This is why every page on this site carries a “last verified” date.

Czechia and the EU wave

Czechia is the clearest example of a scheduled escalator: CZK 5/ml in 2025, 7.50 in 2026, and 10 by 2027. Lithuania sits at €0.25, Slovakia has signalled €0.20, and Poland has been debating a rate that would be among the highest in the region.

The direction across the EU is consistent: per-millilitre excise, rising annually. Ad valorem taxes on vaping are being replaced, not extended.

The United States: fifty different answers

There is no federal excise tax on vaping products. What exists is a state patchwork with two incompatible designs:

Ad valorem states tax a percentage of wholesale or retail price — California, Colorado and DC are at the high end, in the 50–70% range.
Per-millilitre states charge a flat amount — typically US$0.05 to US$0.40 per ml.

On top of that, 17 states now run product directories, which is a licensing barrier rather than a tax but has a similar effect on what is actually on the shelf. A product legal in one state can be unsellable two hours away.

South Korea: per-millilitre, with a synthetic-nicotine twist

Korea charges KRW 628 per ml of nicotine solution as national consumption tax, with additional local levies on top. Since April 2026, synthetic-nicotine products have been brought into the tobacco regime, with a transitional rule applying 50% of the standard rate for two years.

Malaysia: cheap now, expensive soon

The current excise is MYR 0.40/ml, plus 10% ad valorem on devices. That is among the lowest rates on this list — which is exactly why the Ministry of Health has proposed raising it to MYR 4.00/ml, a tenfold increase, alongside a plan to ban open-system devices first.

Australia and Japan: not comparable, and that is the point

Australia does not have a retail vaping market to tax: supply runs through pharmacies as a therapeutic good. Japan has no legal nicotine-liquid market at all — liquid containing nicotine is an unapproved pharmaceutical, so the only taxed product is heated tobacco.

Both are reminders that “vape tax” only means something where vaping is legally sold as a consumer product.

What the trend actually is

Three patterns hold across every market above:

Volume-based excise is winning. Per-millilitre taxes are replacing percentage-of-price taxes because they are harder to game with transfer pricing and easier to collect at the point of manufacture.
Nicotine-free liquid is being pulled in. The UK charges the same rate whether or not the liquid contains nicotine; Germany’s tax was always on the substitute product, not the nicotine. The “0 mg loophole” is closing.
Devices are mostly untouched. Almost every jurisdiction taxes the consumable, not the hardware. Malaysia is the notable exception with its 10% device duty.

The practical consequence for anyone buying: the cost of vaping is migrating from hardware to liquid, which rewards refillable devices and punishes high-consumption formats.

FAQ

Which country taxes vaping the most? On liquid, Canada’s coordinated provinces — roughly C$11 of duty on a 10 ml bottle. Among per-millilitre systems, Korea and Germany are at the top of the European/Asian range.

Is nicotine-free liquid taxed? In the UK, yes, at the same rate. In most per-millilitre systems the tax is on the liquid as a product category, not on the nicotine content.

Do these taxes apply to devices? Usually not. Malaysia is the clearest exception, with a 10% ad valorem duty on devices.

Are these numbers going to be wrong in six months? Yes, some of them. Rates change annually in most of these markets. The date at the top of the page is when it was last checked against official sources — treat anything older than a few months as a starting point, not a fact.

Sources

Information only, not tax advice. Rates and FX move; verify before you price anything.