Outputs for April 2022 to March 2023
Updated 12 September 2024
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This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/annual-outputs-for-tacking-tobacco-smuggling/outputs-for-april-2022-to-march-2023
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 6.9% in 2022 to 2023. The estimated duty gap for hand-rolling tobacco has reduced by half (from 65.2% to 33.3% 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 2024 edition: tax gap estimates for 2022 to 2023.
HMRC and Border Force published a new strategy for tackling illicit tobacco strategy 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 2022 to 2023.
Cigarette seizures
These are the seizures for April 2022 to March 2023.
| HMRC Overseas | Border Force | HMRC Inland | Totals | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Volume (sticks) | 249.4 million | 783.9 million | 119.8 million | 1.15 billion |
| Revenue value (£) | 110.7 million | 348.1 million | 53.2 million | 512 million |
Case studies
Read about the single largest seizure of illegal cigarettes ever made at a UK port on mynewsdesk.com — 99 million cigarettes seized.
Hand-rolling tobacco seizures
These are the seizures for April 2022 to March 2023.
| HMRC Overseas | Border Force | HMRC Inland | Totals | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Volume (kg) | 3,500 | 92,706 | 22,891 | 119,097 |
| Revenue value (£) | 1.4 million | 36.2 million | 9 million | 46.6 million |
Case studies
Read about one of Scotland’s biggest ever illegal tobacco factories being dismantled on mynewsdesk.com — Four tonnes of tobacco seized.
Criminal investigations
| April 2022 to March 2023 | |
|---|---|
| Arrests | 253 |
| Positive charging decisions | 154 |
| Convictions | 75 |
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 penalties
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 2022 to March 2023 | |
|---|---|
| Number of assessments for tobacco products duty issued | 52 |
| Value of tobacco products duty assessments issued | £10,603,098 |
Wrongdoing penalties
| April 2022 to March 2023 | |
|---|---|
| Number of excise wrongdoing penalties issued | 37 |
| Value of excise wrongdoing penalties issued | £3,435,052 |
Customs and Excise civil evasion penalties
| April 2022 to March 2023 | |
|---|---|
| Number of Customs and Excise civil evasion penalties issued | 1,551 |
| Value of Customs and Excise civil evasion penalties issued | £7,759,356 |
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 and other government departments.
HMRC works closely with Trading Standards to disrupt the illicit tobacco trade at retail level – known as Operation CeCe. This work began in January 2021 and has already led to the seizure of over 28 million illicit cigarettes and nearly 8 tonnes of illicit hand-rolling tobacco in the first 2 years.
We also work internationally to target organised crime groups that manufacture and supply illicit tobacco for the UK market. HMRC collaborated with Polish law enforcement bodies to take down an international crime group that were involved in a range of crimes including large scale smuggling of cigarettes to the UK. HMRC supported the Polish investigation by providing intelligence and evidence of the group’s activities in the UK as well as specific seizures.
In February 2023, Polish authorities launched coordinated raids across Poland, arresting 25 suspects, searching 47 premises and seizing cigarette machinery, cigarettes, firearms, ammunition, drugs and cash. This case demonstrates the level of criminality involved in illicit tobacco, but also the success that our international collaboration brings.
Help HMRC tackle tobacco smuggling
To report any kind of excise fraud or tax evasion you can contact HMRC with the information, in confidence.