How Has Canada's Federal Tobacco Excise Duty Changed?
Key takeaways
The federal excise duty on cigarettes rose from $0.74470 per 5 cigarettes on 1 April 2022 to $0.97299 on 1 April 2026, which is $29.79 and $38.92 per carton of 200 (our calculation). Rates move every 1 April with the Consumer Price Index, and on 17 April 2024 Budget 2024 added a further $4 per carton. Vaping duty began at $1.12 per 2 mL in July 2024.
Federal excise duty on cigarettes is $0.97299 per 5 cigarettes from 1 April 2026, up from $0.74470 in April 2022. That is $38.92 against $29.79 on a carton of 200, calculated as the per-5 rate divided by 5 and multiplied by 200. The rate moves every 1 April with the Consumer Price Index, and one extra step came on 17 April 2024 when Budget 2024 added $4 per carton. This page lays out the year-by-year rates the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) publishes, how the yearly adjustment works, and how the vaping duty has developed since July 2024.
Cigarette duty by year
The CRA’s excise duty rates page lists six periods. The per-carton column is our calculation from the official per-5 rate, and the change column compares each step with the one before it.
| In effect | Per 5 cigarettes | Per carton of 200 (calculated) | Change from previous step |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 April 2022 to 31 March 2023 | $0.74470 | $29.79 | first row on the CRA page |
| 1 April 2023 to 31 March 2024 | $0.79162 | $31.66 | +$1.88 (+6.3%) |
| 1 to 16 April 2024 | $0.82883 | $33.15 | +$1.49 (+4.7%) |
| 17 April 2024 to 31 March 2025 | $0.92883 | $37.15 | +$4.00 (+12.1%) |
| 1 April 2025 to 31 March 2026 | $0.95391 | $38.16 | +$1.00 (+2.7%) |
| From 1 April 2026 | $0.97299 | $38.92 | +$0.76 (+2.0%) |
The 2023 step was the largest annual indexation in the table at 6.3%, and the 2026 step the smallest at 2.0%. The changes and percentages are our arithmetic. The CRA page does not print them. The same six carton amounts appear on the price history page, which also traces Ontario’s own tobacco tax.
Other tobacco products
Tobacco sticks, other manufactured tobacco and cigars are indexed on the same schedule. The additional duty on cigars is the greater of the per-cigar amount shown or 88% of the sale price (Canadian-made) or duty-paid value (imported).
| In effect | Tobacco sticks, per stick | Other manufactured tobacco, per 50 g | Cigars, per 1,000 | Cigar additional duty, per-cigar amount |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 April 2022 | $0.14894 | $9.30879 | $32.41649 | $0.11652 |
| 1 April 2023 | $0.15832 | $9.89524 | $34.45873 | $0.12386 |
| 1 April 2024 | $0.16576 | $10.36032 | $36.07829 | $0.12968 |
| 17 April 2024 | $0.18576 | $11.61031 | $40.43121 | $0.14533 |
| 1 April 2025 | $0.19078 | $11.92379 | $41.52285 | $0.14925 |
| 1 April 2026 | $0.19460 | $12.16227 | $42.35331 | $0.15224 |
“Other manufactured tobacco” means manufactured tobacco other than cigarettes and tobacco sticks, charged per 50 g or fraction of 50 g in a package. Raw leaf tobacco is the exception: it stays at $1.572 per kilogram, a rate in effect since 1 July 2003, because the annual adjustment does not apply to it. How these classes apply to cigars, pipe tobacco and waterpipe tobacco is covered on the cigars, pipe and hookah page.
How the yearly adjustment works
The CRA says the rates are adjusted annually on 1 April based on changes to the Consumer Price Index. The mechanism sits in section 43.1 of the Excise Act, 2001:
- It applies to the Schedule 1 tobacco rates and to the base per-cigar amount of the additional cigar duty.
- On 1 April of each adjusted year the new rate is the greater of the 31 March rate and that rate multiplied by a Consumer Price Index ratio. The ratio compares the 12-month average ending 30 September of the previous year with the one a year earlier, rounded to the nearest thousandth.
- The adjusted rate is rounded to the nearest one-hundred-thousandth of a dollar, which is why rates carry five decimals.
- Because of the “greater of” wording, the rate cannot go down when prices fall.
The indexation did not start in 2022, even though the CRA table does. The Act defines an “inflationary adjusted year” as 2019 and every year after, so the legal mechanism pre-dates the first row of the CRA table. The CRA page starts at 1 April 2022, and we did not read the earlier rates. Schedule 1 itself still prints the April 2024 figures ($0.92883 per 5 cigarettes, $0.18576 per stick, $11.61031 per 50 g, $40.43121 per 1,000 cigars) with a second line for the adjusted rate. For the current number use the CRA table rather than the schedule.
The extra step in April 2024
Budget 2024 proposed to increase the tobacco excise duty rate by $4 per carton of 200 cigarettes, in force the day after Budget Day. Counting the $1.49 inflation adjustment of 1 April 2024, the Department of Finance gives a total of $5.49 per carton. The CRA table shows the step as the second 2024 row: $0.82883 to $0.92883 per 5 cigarettes, a rise of exactly 10 cents per 5, or $4.00 per carton. The same budget document applied a $0.02-per-cigarette tax to cigarette inventories held at the start of that day, with returns due 30 June 2024.
April 2025 and April 2026 show only the CPI adjustment, at $1.00 and $0.76 per carton. The CRA’s notice for 2026, EDN105, repeats the 1 April 2026 rates in the table above.
Vaping duty
Vaping duty sits outside the tobacco schedule and is charged on the volume of liquid or weight of solid in a device or container. Since July 2024 it has had a higher rate and applies in more provinces.
| Date | What changed | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Before 1 July 2024 | $1 per 2 mL (liquids) or 2 g (solids) for the first 10 mL or g, then $1 per 10 mL or g | CRA rates page |
| 1 July 2024 | Rate rises to $1.12 (a 12% rise, our arithmetic). An additional vaping duty at the same $1.12 rates starts in Ontario, Quebec, the Northwest Territories and Nunavut | Budget 2024, CRA rates page, EDN95 |
| 1 October 2024 | Province-specific stamps required in those four jurisdictions | EDN95 |
| 1 January 2025 | Additional duty starts in New Brunswick, Manitoba, Prince Edward Island, Alberta and Yukon; their stamps are required from 1 April 2025 | EDN99 |
| 26 February 2026 | Regulations add Nova Scotia as the tenth specified vaping province; its additional duty applies from 1 April 2026 | EDN107 |
In a specified province the two duties stack, so a product carries $2.24 where other provinces charge $1.12. The CRA rates page shows no vaping rate change for 2025 or 2026. Province-level vaping taxes such as the 20% taxes in British Columbia, Saskatchewan and Newfoundland and Labrador are on the vape tax page.
Where provincial tax fits
Everything above is the federal layer, charged on every carton in every province. The provincial or territorial tobacco tax is added on top and is listed with its effective dates on the tobacco tax rates page. To split a price you paid into its parts, use the tax breakdown calculator.
What we could not confirm
- Individual notices for most years. The CRA’s notice list shows EDN101 (adjusted rates from 1 April 2025) as cancelled and gives no page for it, and a direct request for it returned a not-found error. We found no notice listed for 2022, 2023 or April 2024. The rates for those years come from the CRA’s rates table, not from a dated notice. Only EDN105 (2026) was opened as a rate notice.
- Rates before 1 April 2022. The CRA table starts there. The Act points to indexation from 2019, but we have no official rates for 2019 to 2021 and leave them out.
- The Consumer Price Index figures. We did not read the Statistics Canada values behind each step, so the percentage changes are measured from the published rates only.
- The Canada Gazette. We did not search it for the tobacco rate regulations or for the 2024 amendments to Schedule 1.
- Cigarette inventory tax. The 2026 notice for it, EDN106, was not read.
- Pipe and waterpipe tobacco. The CRA page does not say which rate class they fall in.
- Vaping since 2024. We found no later federal vaping rate change, but the CRA page does not say that none is planned.
Legal information only, not legal advice. Laws and bylaws change; confirm the current text in the official source before you rely on it. Read the full disclaimer.
Frequently asked questions
How is the federal tax on a carton of cigarettes worked out?
The Canada Revenue Agency publishes the duty per 5 cigarettes or fraction of 5. A carton of 200 holds 40 of those units, so the carton figure is the rate divided by 5 and multiplied by 200. From 1 April 2026 that is $0.97299 and $38.92, and the carton figure is our calculation.
When does the federal cigarette duty change each year?
On 1 April. Section 43.1 of the Excise Act, 2001 sets the new rate at the greater of the March 31 rate or that rate multiplied by a Consumer Price Index ratio, so the rate cannot fall. The one change on another date in our table is 17 April 2024.
Was the 2024 increase just inflation?
No. Budget 2024 added $4 per carton of 200 cigarettes on top of a $1.49 inflation adjustment already in place from 1 April 2024, a total of $5.49 per carton.
Which provinces pay the additional vaping duty?
Ten: Ontario, Quebec, the Northwest Territories and Nunavut from 1 July 2024, then New Brunswick, Manitoba, Prince Edward Island, Alberta and Yukon from 1 January 2025, and Nova Scotia from 1 April 2026 (the regulations adding it came into force on 26 February 2026).
Sources
- Excise duty rates — Canada Revenue Agency. Accessed October 31, 2026.
- EDN105 Adjusted rates of excise duty on tobacco products effective April 1, 2026 — Canada Revenue Agency. Accessed October 31, 2026.
- Excise duty notices under the Excise Act, 2001 — Canada Revenue Agency. Accessed October 31, 2026.
- Excise Act, 2001, section 43.1 — Department of Justice Canada (Justice Laws). Accessed October 31, 2026.
- Excise Act, 2001, Schedule 1 — Department of Justice Canada (Justice Laws). Accessed October 31, 2026.
- Budget 2024, Tax Measures: Supplementary Information — Department of Finance Canada. Accessed October 31, 2026.
- EDN95 Coordinated vaping duty system — Canada Revenue Agency. Accessed October 31, 2026.
- EDN99 Additional specified vaping provinces — Canada Revenue Agency. Accessed October 31, 2026.
- EDN107 Additional specified vaping province — Canada Revenue Agency. Accessed October 31, 2026.