The prices of cigarettes and all tobacco products will increase from the New Year due to a higher excise tax. There will also be a price increase for electronic and heated cigarettes, even for those that do not contain nicotine.
An increase in tobacco excise taxes was voted on with the 2025 budget, and it is planned to be phased and smooth over four years. For years, the state withheld specific taxes on tobacco products to prevent their prices from rising, and so our country ended up with the lowest excise tax in the EU, including for new electronic and heated smoking products.
Next year, the excise tax on cigarettes will be 113 euros per 1,000 pieces, compared to the current 107.57 euros per 1,000 pieces. For a pack of cigarettes, this means the tax will increase from the current 2.14 euros to 2.27 euros, Sega calculates.
However, 20% VAT must also be charged on them, and so the calculations show that a pack of cigarettes will become more expensive by 15 euro cents (i.e. 30 stotinki) in 2026 due to the new excise tax, if the manufacturer or retailer does not increase the margin.
For cigars and cigarillos, the tax will be 212.70 euros per 1,000 pieces, up from the current 202.47 euros.
The excise tax on smoking tobacco will increase from the current 113 euros per kilogram to 121.96 euros per kilogram.
For heated tobacco products, the excise tax will also increase by 10 euros per kilogram to 214.74 euros. For a box of 20 sticks, the price increase will be 7-8 euro cents. The same amount will be raised due to the new excise tax for heated smoking products that do not contain nicotine.
The excise tax on liquid for electronic cigarettes, regardless of whether it contains nicotine, is being raised from 0.23 to 0.25 euros per milliliter. This means that the price of an electronic cigarette with 2 ml of liquid will increase by about 5 euro cents from next year. For a 20 ml bottle, the price increase will be about 50 euro cents.
It should be borne in mind that at the beginning of the year there will be unsold quantities of tobacco products with the old tax labels. They will be sold at lower prices until they are exhausted.
The increase in excise rates on tobacco and all tobacco products in the budget in 2026 is expected to generate 130 million euros in additional revenue. Since VAT is charged on the final price of the product, including excise duty, an additional 26 million euros in VAT revenue is expected as a result of the increase in excise rates on tobacco and tobacco products.