How is vaping taxed in Canada?
Vaping products sold in Canada carry two charges before any retailer markup: a federal excise duty charged on each immediate container, and sales tax layered on top of that excise-inclusive price. 10 of 13 provinces and territories add a second excise duty that exactly matches the federal one, doubling it; the rest — British Columbia, Newfoundland and Labrador, and Saskatchewan — charge their own vape-specific sales tax on the price instead. None of this is a percentage of the whole order: the duty is worked out container by container, so identical volumes of e-liquid can carry very different tax depending only on how they are packaged.
How is the federal vaping duty calculated?
The duty is set out in Schedule 8 of the Excise Act, 2001, at $1.12 per increment, charged on each pod, disposable or bottle as its own container, not on the order as a whole:
- For the first 10 mL in a container: $1.12 per 2 mL, or any part of 2 mL.
- For every mL after that: another $1.12 per 10 mL, or any part of 10 mL.
A closed 2 mL pod needs one increment: $1.12. A 10 mL bottle needs five: $5.60.
Why does a five-pack of disposables carry more duty than one bottle the same size?
Because the duty is assessed per container, not per order. Five disposable vapes holding 5 mL each add up to the same 25 mL as one bottle of e-liquid, but the two are not taxed alike. Each 5 mL disposable owes $3.36, and five of them in one order owe $16.80 between them. The single 25 mL bottle owes $7.84 in total — because it is one container rather than five. Identical liquid; more than double the duty, solely because of how it arrives. The same effect is what separates disposable and refillable formats on cost per millilitre — see the cost-per-millilitre comparison for that arithmetic.
Which provinces charge a second, doubled duty?
10 of the 13provinces and territories have signed Canada’s Coordinated Vaping Product Taxation Agreement. Inside each one, the province charges its own additional vaping duty at exactly the federal rate, so the total excise on every container is doubled. A 25 mL bottle that owes $7.84 federally owes $15.68 in total once inside one of these provinces.
| Province | Additional duty in effect since |
|---|---|
| Alberta | January 1, 2025 |
| Manitoba | January 1, 2025 |
| New Brunswick | January 1, 2025 |
| Nova Scotia | April 1, 2026 |
| Northwest Territories | July 1, 2024 |
| Nunavut | July 1, 2024 |
| Ontario | July 1, 2024 |
| Prince Edward Island | January 1, 2025 |
| Quebec | July 1, 2024 |
| Yukon | January 1, 2025 |
British Columbia, Newfoundland and Labrador, and Saskatchewan have not signed the agreement. They are not duty-free — each charges its own vape-specific sales tax instead, covered below.
What sales tax applies on top of the duty?
Every province charges GST or HST on the duty-inclusive shelf price. Some add a general provincial sales tax as well, and British Columbia, Newfoundland and Labrador and Saskatchewan add a further tax that applies only to vapour products:
| Province | GST/HST | Provincial sales tax | Vape-specific tax |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alberta | 5% | — | — |
| British Columbia | 5% | — | 20% |
| Manitoba | 5% | 7% | — |
| New Brunswick | 15% | — | — |
| Newfoundland and Labrador | 15% | — | 20% |
| Nova Scotia | 14% | — | — |
| Northwest Territories | 5% | — | — |
| Nunavut | 5% | — | — |
| Ontario | 13% | — | — |
| Prince Edward Island | 15% | — | — |
| Quebec | 5% | 9.975% | — |
| Saskatchewan | 5% | 6% | 20% |
| Yukon | 5% | — | — |
How do those taxes combine with the duty?
Take a hypothetical $20.00 shelf price. In most provinces the extra layers are simply added together: Manitoba charges 5% GST plus 7% PST, so $20.00 becomes $22.40 delivered. Quebec adds 5% GST and 9.975% QST the same way, for $23.00 on the same $20.00 shelf price.
British Columbia and Newfoundland and Labrador do not add — they compound. British Columbia charges 20% PST on vapour products, then charges its 5% GST on the PST-inclusive amount, so the multiplier is 1.26 rather than the 1.25 simple addition would give: the same $20.00 shelf price becomes $25.20. Newfoundland and Labrador states that its HST applies “on the retail price plus the vapour products tax”, which compounds its 20% VPT with 15% HST to a 1.38 multiplier instead of 1.35 — $27.60 on the same $20.00.
Saskatchewan is the one province this page will not reduce to a single combined figure. Saskatchewan charges a 20% Vapour Products Tax, 6% PST and 5% GST, but Saskatchewan’s own bulletin defines only the PST base and refers GST questions to the CRA — it does not confirm whether GST is calculated before or after the Vapour Products Tax is added. Until that is published, those three rates are the reliable answer; a single combined percentage for Saskatchewan is not confirmed by a primary source.
Does the duty appear as its own line at checkout?
No. The duty is remitted by the licensed manufacturer or importer when the product is stamped, before it reaches a retailer, so it is already inside the shelf price rather than added at the till. The shelf prices tracked in current vape prices and summarised in the price index already include it. Sales tax is the layer that is genuinely added afterward, the way GST/HST and PST are added to any other purchase, combined the way the section above describes.
This page covers the tax arithmetic only. For age limits, the 20 mg/mL nicotine cap and each province’s flavour rules, see what the law says about buying vapes online in Canada. For the full delivered-cost picture — shelf price, this duty, sales tax and shipping together — see how much vaping costs in Canada.