Colm Burke (Cork North-Central, Fine Gael)
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457. To ask the Minister for Finance when he will publish legislation to bring in a tax on e-liquids of €500 per litre, per the Budget 2025 announcement; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [23255/25]

Colm Burke (Cork North-Central, Fine Gael)
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458. To ask the Minister for Finance the extent to which his officials have liaised with EU Commission officials as regards e-liquids tax, given that the EU Commission is expected to publish a revised tobacco tax directive by the end of June 2025; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [23256/25]

Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 457 and 458 together.

Legislation providing for the introduction of a new national excise duty to e-cigarettes, known as E-Liquid Products Tax (EPT), was included in Chapter 1 of Part 2 of Finance Act 2024. Essentially, e-liquid products are liquids used in e-cigarettes, including refill cartridges for refillable devices.

Under the new law, EPT will apply to both nicotine-containing and non-nicotine-containing e-liquid products. The taxing point for EPT will be the first supply of e-liquid product in the State and the tax will follow Revenue’s standard model of self-assessment. Suppliers of e-liquid product will be required to register with Revenue in advance of making a first supply of e-liquid products in the State. Suppliers will also be liable to account for and pay the tax. EPT is subject to commencement by Ministerial Order and arrangements are underway to enable the new tax to be commenced and come into effect later this year.

Revenue is currently setting up the Information Technology, administrative, operational and compliance systems and processes required to administer and collect the new tax. Detailed guidance regarding EPT – including information for suppliers about registering for EPT and their compliance obligations – will be published by Revenue in the coming months before the new tax is brought into effect.

The taxation of e-cigarettes and novel products, including e-liquids, is expected to be addressed at EU level through a revision of the Tobacco Tax Directive (2011/64/EU). However, the Commission’s proposals for revision of the Directive have been postponed on a number of occasions in the last few years, and in the meantime, a significant number of Member States have moved to introduce domestic taxes on e-cigarette products. In the interest of public health, we too have decided to proceed with the introduction of a national tax.

My officials have engaged with the Commission on this issue including via engagement at Commission Higher Level Working Group meetings and in responses to Commission surveys. In addition, officials sent a letter to the Commission in September 2024 to formally outline Ireland’s plans to introduce a tax on e-liquid products in Budget 2025. The letter included the rationale behind the tax, public health evidence and the intended tax structure. It also emphasised Ireland’s support of a revision of the Tobacco Tax Directive and the importance of a harmonised approach to the taxation of such products. Ireland’s e-liquid tax proposal was further notified to the Commission via the Technical Regulations Information System (TRIS) in October 2024.

The combination of the Single Market rules which allow free movement of goods, as well as the lack of harmonisation of the tax rules, limits both the effectiveness and the efficiency of any domestic approaches that individual Member States can take to taxing e-liquid products. To underscore the importance of an EU level approach to this area, my Department, along with similar authorities in fifteen other Member States made a joint statement in December 2024 calling on the new Commission to make the modernisation of tobacco taxation legislation at EU level a key priority for its upcoming term.