By Timothy S. Donahue
Top Takeaways:
- Revenue lagging: Ireland’s new €500-per-liter e-liquid tax generated €1.3 million in its first two months — about 46% of the pace required to meet the €17 million annual forecast.
- Market uncertainty: The Department of Finance previously said that estimating the size of the vaping market had “proven difficult,” citing a “lack of information.”
- Compliance questions: A retail trade body warned that the self-declaration system is “clearly not robust enough” and called for stronger enforcement and tax stamps.
Ireland’s new vape tax is off to a slow start. The country’s e-liquid products tax, which took effect Nov. 1, 2025, is generating less than half the revenue projected by the Department of Finance, according to provisional government data.
The excise duty, levied at €500 (US$588) per liter on the first sale of vaping liquids in the State, yielded €1.3 million during its first two-month filing period. Returns from 60 registered companies were due by Jan. 31, Minister for Finance Simon Harris said in response to a parliamentary question.
To meet the department’s full-year projection of €17 million, the tax would need to generate approximately €2.83 million every two months. The initial take represents about 46% of that amount.
In September, the Department of Finance’s Tax Strategy Group described the €17 million estimate as a “conservative estimate” of the potential annual yield. The projection was “purposely set at a lower level to avoid overestimating revenue in the initial stages of implementation of the tax,” the group said, noting the possibility of shifts in consumer behavior following the new levy.
The department also acknowledged at the time that it “has proven difficult” to determine the overall size of the e-cigarette market in Ireland, citing a “lack of information.”
Harris said that, following the tax’s introduction, details of settlements and offenses will be published in Revenue’s quarterly list of tax defaulters.
The early figures have drawn scrutiny from industry representatives. Responsible Vaping Ireland, a trade body representing vape retailers, said the provisional data suggests that many liable businesses may not be filing returns.
“The use of a ‘self-declaration system’ for the vape tax is clearly not robust enough, if returns are at such a shockingly low level,” a spokesperson for the group said.
The organization called on Harris to introduce tax stamps to strengthen compliance oversight and urged a “clampdown on the black market” to ensure that “bad actors who are importing or selling illegal or unregulated vaping products are stopped.”
“Any system is only as good as its enforcement and the lack of tax stamps and no formal tracking of the black market is a missed opportunity from Revenue to stop these rogue retailers,” the spokesperson added.
When responding to questions from the media, the Department of Finance stressed that the figures released were provisional.
