Press conference in Q4 of 2026: the launch of the MOVE website and the publication of our commissioned research. Media only. Event details
Press conference in Q4 of 2026: the launch of the MOVE website and the publication of our commissioned research. Media only. Event details
The law
Malaysia has collected excise duty on nicotine e-liquid since 2023. It has also spent that period discussing whether to ban the thing it is taxing.
Excise duty on nicotine e-liquid took effect on 1 April 2023, at 40 sen per ml. Excise on vape devices and on non-nicotine liquid came earlier, from 1 January 2021. Nicotine liquid was brought in at the same rate two years after that.
Another figure which has been reported is RM1.20 per ml. This was a Budget 2022 proposal, put forward in late 2021 and which was subsequently shelved. It is the proposal that the Malaysia Retail Electronic Cigarette Association (MRECA) wrote its submission to the Ministry of Finance to oppose.
On the effective date of the excise duty, 1 January 2024 was a start date that appears in a good deal of press coverage, including coverage that quotes MOVE. Tracing the duty back to the Ministry of Finance’s own media release puts the start nine months earlier. So the correct date that excise duty took effect is 1 April 2023.
Source: Ministry of Finance media release on the implementation of excise duty on nicotine liquid and gel products, in Bahasa Malaysia. The 1 January 2021 start for devices and non-nicotine liquid is reported by Free Malaysia Today, 8 December 2020.
Cumulative vape excise duty since the rate took effect, as reported in July 2026 while the Government was reviewing controls.
RM80.32m
Collected in 2023. The duty took effect on 1 April and collection began in May 2023.
RM111.14m
Collected in 2024, the first full year.
RM118.93m
Collected in 2025.
RM44.11m
Collected to 11 June 2026.
The total vape excise duty collected between May 2023 and 11 June 2026 came to RM354.51 million, according to a Ministry of Health written reply to Senator Robert Lau Hui Yew in the Dewan Negara, published 29 July 2026. That is public money raised from a legal, registered, duty-paid product, during the same period in which the Ministry of Health was pressing the Cabinet to prohibit it.
Source: Ministry of Health written reply to Senator Robert Lau Hui Yew in the Dewan Negara, published 29 July 2026, reported by Bernama, 29 July 2026 and The Star, 30 July 2026 · New Straits Times, “Vape excise duty reaches RM354.51mil as govt reviews controls”, July 2026 · Malay Mail, 2 April 2023, on the Customs registration window
Ahead of Budget 2026 the Ministry of Health proposed raising the duty from 40 sen to RM4 per ml, an increase of roughly 900%. The Finance Ministry had earlier signalled a move from 40 to 80 sen.
MOVE said publicly that the proposal was illogical and self-defeating. A tax that pushes a less harmful product above the price of cigarettes reverses the incentive the tax is supposed to create, which is to move people to a less harmful product compared to combustible tobacco.
Budget 2026 raised cigarette and alcohol excise from 1 November 2025 and did not adopt the proposed 900% vape excise rise. There has been no further proposal or replacement position on vape excise duty as at 23 October 2026. Budget 2027, tabled on 9 October 2026, made no change to vape excise; its only vape line keeps vape and its liquids outside the Langkawi and Labuan duty-free allowance from 1 January 2027 (Ministry of Finance, Budget 2027 documents).
Sources: Scoop, “Consumer group slams 900% vape tax proposal as ‘illogical and self-defeating'” · The Edge, “Health Ministry proposes 10-fold tax hike on vape liquids ahead of ban” · Nicotine Insider, “Malaysia Defers Vape Taxes Decision”, 25 June 2026 · Vaping Post on tax rises and harm reduction, 14 October 2025 · Utusan Malaysia, 25 June 2026, on the written reply · CodeBlue, 26 June 2026 · Free Malaysia Today, 18 August 2026, on the withdrawal of the appeal · Ministry of Finance, Budget 2027 tax measures, 9 October 2026
MOVE has never opposed taxing vape. In 2023 we argued that an excise duty should come with regulation, and that a taxed product is a recognised product. In 2025, we stated that the Health Ministry’s push to ban vape products while simultaneously approving them for market registration is contradictory and confusing. This position has not changed.
Tax it, but not above cigarettes: duty on a less harmful alternative should be less than the duty on the more harmful product.
Do not overburden the consumer: if the duty on a less harmful product is exceedingly high, the smokers who have switched to vapes will most likely go back to cigarettes. Or worse, they start buying from the underground market.
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