Govt to Impose New Duty on Nicotine Pouches and E-Cigarettes

The federal government is expected to impose federal excise duty (FED) on Nicotine pouches and e-cigarettes in the Finance Bill 2024 on Wednesday (June 12). At present, there is no FED on Nicotine pouches. The rate of tax on e-cigarettes would be brought to par with the imported cigarettes. The measure is estimated to generate revenue to the tune of billions. The existing rates of the FED on cigarettes would remain unchanged. The enforcement measures to check the illicit trade of cigarettes would be intensified and fines/penalties would be considerably increased in the budget (2024-25). The government is likely to fix Rs. 12.9 trillion tax collection target of the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) for 2024-25 as compared to Rs. 9.4 trillion for 2023-24, reflecting a massive increase of Rs. 3.5 trillion.