Outputs for April 2025 to March 2026
Updated 8 July 2026
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This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/annual-outputs-for-tacking-tobacco-smuggling/outputs-for-april-2025-to-march-2026--2
Summary
This year saw record levels of cigarette seizures of around 1.9 billion cigarettes, worth around £1.1 billion, alongside continued strong action against organised crime groups.
There was also a substantial increase in Tobacco Track and Trace penalties, both in number and value, rising from 70 to 334 and from £402.5k to over £2 million. This reflects the scheme bedding in, increased use by Trading Standards and increased HMRC resource focused on these penalties.
Alongside strong action at the border, in order to reduce demand, we have delivered communications campaigns, such as the Crimestoppers partnership. This demonstrates coordinated action across the supply chain to tackle illicit tobacco.
Overall, the data shows strong operational activity across HMRC and partners, with coordinated action taken across the supply chain - from border seizures to inland enforcement and retail disruption.
Context on the Strategy and Tax Gap
The government has had a comprehensive strategy to tackle illicit tobacco since 2000. This has been highly effective in reducing the estimated duty gap for cigarettes from 16.9% in 2005 to 2006, to 12% in 2024 to 2025. The estimated duty gap for hand-rolling tobacco has reduced substantially (from 65.2% to 22.9%) over the same period.
HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) estimates the size of the illicit market using tax gap data, which is reported annually. For more details, read about excise (including alcohol, tobacco and oils) in Measuring tax gaps 2026 edition: tax gap estimates for 2024 to 2025.
HMRC and Border Force published a new strategy for tackling illicit tobacco in January 2024. This sets out our continued commitment to reduce the trade in illicit tobacco, with a focus on both reducing demand for illicit tobacco, and to tackle and disrupt the organised crime groups behind the illicit tobacco trade. For more details, read Stubbing out the problem: A new strategy to tackle illicit tobacco.
This report sets out tobacco strategy outputs delivered for 2025 to 2026.
Cigarette seizures
These are the seizures for April 2025 to March 2026.
| HMRC Overseas | Border Force | HMRC Inland | Totals | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Volume (sticks) | 279 million | 1.5 billion | 112.9 million | 1.9 billion |
| Revenue value (£) | 160 million | 865.7 million | 60.5 million | £1,087.2 million |
These are record cigarette seizure levels of around 1.9 billion cigarettes, worth around £1.1 billion.
Case studies
Read about a secret tobacco factory being dismantled in Northern Ireland and tobacco worth more than £3 million in unpaid duty being recovered.
Hand-rolling tobacco seizures
These are the seizures for April 2025 to March 2026.
| HMRC Overseas | Border Force | HMRC Inland | Totals | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Volume (kg) | 604 | 70,096 | 86.527 | 157,227 |
| Revenue value (£) | 370k | 43million | 45.9 million | 89.4 million |
Case studies
Read about 11 men sentenced for smuggling more than 150 million cigarettes into the UK
Criminal investigations
| April 2025 to March 2026 | |
|---|---|
| Arrests | 201 |
| Positive charging decisions | 134 |
| Convictions | 83 |
During the life of a prosecution case a decision is made as to whether to charge a suspect or not.
Convictions do not necessarily relate to the prosecutions started in this period, since outcomes to case will depend on the time taken for them to be processed through the judicial system.
Civil Sanctions and Duty Assessments
In addition to criminal prosecutions, HMRC uses a range of sanctions and penalties to improve compliance by:
- penalising anyone handling illicit tobacco products
- recovering unpaid duty on seizures made at the border and inland
Following the UK’s departure from the EU, there have been changes to the way HMRC assess and penalise non-duty paid tobacco importations to the UK from the EU.
This has led to:
- a reduction in the value of tobacco products duty assessments issued by HMRC
- an increase in the amount of Customs and Excise civil evasion penalties raised
The figures for these penalties are included here, under ‘Customs and Excise civil evasion penalties’.
Tobacco products duty assessments
| April 2025 to March 2026 | |
|---|---|
| Number of assessments for tobacco products duty issued | 105 |
| Value of tobacco products duty assessments issued | £13,936,053 |
Wrongdoing penalties
| April 2025 to March 2026 | |
|---|---|
| Number of excise wrongdoing penalties issued | 58 |
| Value of excise wrongdoing penalties issued | £2,598,702 |
Customs and Excise civil evasion penalties
| April 2025 to March 2026 | |
|---|---|
| Number of Customs and Excise civil evasion penalties issued | 1,187 |
| Value of Customs and Excise civil evasion penalties issued | £22,134,616 |
Tobacco Track and Trace penalties
Since October 2023, HMRC has been accepting referrals from Trading Standards, where they find illicit tobacco products which are non-compliant with UK Tobacco Track and Trace regulations.
These referrals resulted in the issue of financial penalties of up to £10,000.
For more details, read the Tobacco track and trace penalties guidance.
| April 2025 to March 2026 | |
|---|---|
| Number of Tobacco Track and Trace penalties issued | 334 |
| Value of Tobacco Track and Trace penalties issued | £2,037,500 |
The Track and Trace penalties issued have risen substantially from 70 last year to 334 this year, with a value of over £2 million versus £402,500 last year. This is due to the scheme bedding in, increased use by Trading Standards and HMRC having more dedicated caseworkers for this work.
This is an important tool in protecting high streets, supporting legitimate businesses, and ensuring a level playing field for compliant traders, while also protecting tax revenue.
HMRC multi-agency events
HMRC maintains a good working relationship with a variety of partner agencies to combat the illicit tobacco trade. These include local authority trading standards teams, the police, Border Force, and other government departments.
HMRC works closely with Trading Standards to disrupt the illicit tobacco trade at retail level – known since 2021 as Operation CeCe. In the year 2025/26 Trading Standards seized over 35 million cigarettes and more than 8,000 kilograms of hand‑rolling tobacco, preventing revenue losses of over £25 million.
We also work internationally to target organised crime groups that manufacture and supply illicit tobacco for the UK market. For example, HMRC collaborated with domestic partners, including the Home Office and the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI), alongside international law enforcement colleagues in Ireland and at Europol, to dismantle an illegal cigarette factory in Northern Ireland.
The factory was producing around 800,000 cigarettes per day for the illicit UK market. Action taken led to the arrest of seven individuals on suspicion of tax and immigration offences, and the closure of the factory protected the UK Exchequer from an estimated loss of around £232 million in tax revenue per year.
HMRC has also supported ongoing financial investigations in Ireland, resulting in the seizure of assets, and continues to work with international partners to develop intelligence and pursue further lines of enquiry.
Help HMRC tackle tobacco smuggling
To report any kind of excise fraud or tax evasion you can contact HMRC with the information, in confidence.