Excise tax for e-cigarettes, vape liquids

 

All electronic and non-electronic cigarette devices including vaping devices will be subjected to a 10 percent excise tax effective January next year.

Non-electronic devices include shisha and pipes. The excise tax does not apply to regular cigarettes.

All vape liquids will also be subjected to an excise tax of 40 sen per mililitre.

Finance Minister Tengku Zafrul Abdul Aziz, when tabling Budget 2021 in the Dewan Rakyat, announced the measures as part of the government's efforts to sustain its income.

From next year, all cigarettes and tobacco products will also be sold at full price, including on duty-free islands - Langkawi, Labuan, Tioman, and Pangkor.

Other cigarette-related measures announced in Budget 2021 are:

• Freezing the issuance of new cigarette import licences
• Enforcing stricter conditions to renew a cigarette import license including to impose an import quota
• Limiting cigarette transshipment activities to certain ports

Imposing a tax with drawback facility on all imported cigarettes for purposes of transshipment and re-export

Banning cigarette transshipment or export via 'bot kumpit' (small boats)

In 2019, the Illicit Cigarettes Study by Japan Tobacco International (JTI Malaysia) reportedly estimated that the sale of unregulated vape products and illicit cigarettes could cost the government about RM6 billion in lost taxes. - Mkini