Tobacco excise increase on 1 January 2020
02.59pm 09 December 2019
The annual indexation increase to excise and excise-equivalent duty rates together with a separate 10 percent increase will take place on 1 January 2020.
The annual indexation increase is based on the movement in the All Groups Consumers Price Index (excluding credit services) over the 12-month period to 30 September 2019.
In addition to the annual indexation increase, the excise duty rates will also increase by 10 percent. This is the fourth and final of the 10 percent increases announced in the 2016 Budget and legislated for in the Customs and Excise Act 2018.
The new rates are those set out in the Excise and Excise-equivalent Duties Table (Tobacco Products Indexation and Separate 10% Increase) Amendment Order 2019 (PDF 147 KB).
The new rates are summarised as:
| Tobacco product | Rate of excise and excise-equivalent duty from 1 January 2020 (GST excl) | |
| Manufactured cigarettes | exceeding in weight 0.8 kg actual tobacco content per 1000 cigarettes | $1469.03 per kilo tobacco content (KTC) |
| not exceeding in weight 0.8 kg actual tobacco content per 1000 cigarettes | $1,030.90 per 1000 cigarettes | |
| Smoking tobacco, homogenised or reconstituted tobacco | $1469.03 per kilo tobacco content (KTC) | |
| Other tobacco products, eg. snuff, cigars, cheroots and cigarillos | $1288.59 per kilo tobacco content (KTC) |
Tobacco and tobacco products removed from a licensed manufacturing area or imported after midnight on 31 December 2019 will be subject to the new rates.
If you need further information, please contact Customs on 0800 428 786 (0800 4 CUSTOMS) or refer to Excise on this website.
The Allowances and Charges page will be updated with the new excise rates for specific products on 1 January 2020.