UK Tobacco Track and Trace — penalties and sanctions (CC/FS76)
Updated 9 November 2023
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If you manufacture, import, transport, store or sell certain tobacco products in the UK, you must follow the UK Tobacco Track and Trace (TT&T) regulations. This factsheet tells you about the penalties we may charge and other sanctions we can apply if you don’t comply with those regulations.
For more information about Tobacco Track and Trace, go to GOV.UK and search ‘tobacco product traceability’.
This factsheet is one of a series of compliance checks factsheets. For the full list, go to GOV.UK and search ‘HMRC compliance checks factsheets’.
If you need help
If you have any health or personal circumstances that may make it difficult for you to deal with us, please tell the officer who contacted you. We’ll help you in whatever way we can. For more details, go to GOV.UK and search ‘get help from HMRC if you need extra support’.
You can also ask someone else to deal with us on your behalf. For example, a professional adviser, friend or relative. However, we may still need to talk or write to you directly about some things. If we need to write to you, we’ll send a copy to the person you’ve asked us to deal with. If we need to talk to you, they can be with you when we do, if you prefer.
About Tobacco Track and Trace
Tobacco products are tracked from manufacture or import into the UK, through to the first retailer. Tobacco packaging is scanned throughout the supply chain and the data is stored in a UK data repository.
For tobacco products in Northern Ireland, data will be submitted to data repositories in the UK and the EU.
Registering for Tobacco Track and Trace
Businesses involved in the manufacture and supply of tobacco products must register with the UK ID issuer. This includes businesses which store or sell to trade or to the public.
The UK ID issuer is Dentsu Tracking. When you register with them, they’ll issue you:
- an economic operator identity (EOID) code for your business
- a facility identity (FID) code for each of your facilities — if you have more than one
You need to give these codes to your wholesaler if you’re purchasing cigarettes and hand rolling tobacco to sell to customers.
You can find out more about registering online. Go to GOV.UK and search ‘register with the UK ID issuer if your business is involved in the supply of tobacco products’.
Complying with the regulations
If you don’t comply with the regulations, we describe this as a ‘contravention’. Different regulations apply to different parts of the supply chain. To find out about the regulations for your business, go to GOV.UK and search ‘tobacco product traceability’.
Both HMRC and Trading Standards can visit business premises to investigate and remove tobacco products that should not be available for sale. These are called ‘illicit tobacco products’. These visits are to make sure that only legitimate, UK duty-paid tobacco products are being sold.
If Trading Standards visit you and believe you haven’t complied with the regulations, they may share your information with HMRC.
Penalties for not complying with the regulations
If we find that you haven’t complied with the regulations, we may charge you a penalty. The amount of any penalty will depend on:
- how many units of non-compliant tobacco products were found on this occasion
- how many previous times we’ve found you haven’t complied with the regulations
A unit is 20 cigarettes or 30g of hand-rolling tobacco.
The amount of penalty we may charge in each situation is shown in the following table.
| Number of times you’ve not complied with the regulations | Less than 100 units found on this occasion | 100 to 299 units found on this occasion | 300 to 499 units found on this occasion | 500 or more units found on this occasion |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Once | £2,500 | £5,000 | £7,500 | £10,000 |
| Twice | £5,000 | £7,500 | £10,000 | £10,000 |
| Three or more | £7,500 | £10,000 | £10,000 | £10,000 |
Other sanctions
If we find that you haven’t complied with the regulations more than once, we may apply other sanctions.
Deactivation of your EOID code or premises FID code
If you hold an EOID for the sale of tobacco products on your premises, we can deactivate your EOID code. We can also deactivate the FID code for the facility where the non-compliant tobacco was found.
The length of time we can deactivate your EOID or FID depends on:
- how many units of non-compliant tobacco products were found on this occasion
- how many previous times we’ve found you haven’t complied with the regulations — it doesn’t matter how many units were found on those occasions
A unit is 20 cigarettes or 30g of hand-rolling tobacco.
The deactivation period that we may apply in each situation is shown in the following table.
| Number of times you’ve not complied with the regulations | Less than 100 units found on this occasion | 100 to 299 units found on this occasion | 300 to 499 units found on this occasion | 500 or more units found on this occasion |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Once | Not applicable | Not applicable | Not applicable | Not applicable |
| Twice | 6 months | 6 months | 6 months | 5 years |
| Three or more | 5 years | 5 years | 5 years | 5 years |
If we’re considering deactivation, we’ll write to let you know. We’ll give you the chance to tell us why you think we shouldn’t deactivate your EOID or FID. We’ll then consider all the evidence about your case and make our decision.
If we decide to deactivate your EOID or FID, we’ll send you a deactivation notice. The notice will tell you the:
- start date of the deactivation
- length of time the deactivation will last for
You’ll be able to appeal against our decision. In some limited circumstances, we can pause the deactivation until your appeal has been heard by the independent tribunal that deals with tax. We’ll tell you more about this at the time.
Removal of genuine tobacco products
We can also seize and permanently remove compliant tobacco products that we find on your premises at the same time as illicit tobacco products. This is described as ‘forfeiture’ of those products.
If you disagree
If there’s something you don’t agree with, please tell us.
If we make a decision that you can appeal against, we’ll write to you about the decision and tell you what to do if you disagree. You’ll usually have 3 options.
Within 30 days, you can:
- send new information to the officer dealing with the check and ask them to take it into account
- have your case reviewed by an HMRC officer who has not been involved in the matter
- arrange for an independent tribunal to hear your appeal and decide the matter
You can find out more about appeals in the HMRC1 guidance ‘How to get a review of an HMRC decision’. Go to GOV.UK and search ‘HMRC1’.
More information
Our privacy notice
Our privacy notice sets out the standards that you can expect from us when we ask for information or hold information about you. Go to GOV.UK and search ‘HMRC Privacy Notice’.
If you are unhappy with our service
Please tell the person or office you’ve been dealing with. They’ll try to put things right. If you are still unhappy, they’ll tell you how to make a formal complaint.