Following the January 2021 price increase, the cheapest pack of cigarettes in Serbia will cost 270 dinars and those who like better quality tobacco will have to pay 400 dinars per packet at least.
According to the proposed changes to the Excise Law, a further increase in the price of cigarettes and tobacco is expected in the next four years, with the first one in January next year of 10 dinars per pack.
The reason for this is the increase in the specific excise duty of one and a half dinars per pack cigarettes, so the state will take 76.75 dinars from manufacturers on this basis from 2021, instead of the previous 74.50.
According to the amendments to the Excise Law, the relevant excise duty will be increased by 1.5 dinars twice a year, until the end of 2025.
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On top of all this, there is the VAT, so due to the increase in state levies, producers will be forced to increase the price of cigarettes by 10 dinars per pack on average.
The goal of these changes is to harmonize the relevant regulation with the EU standards, according to which by 2025, instead of the current 70, the state should earn at least 90 euro per 1,000 cigarettes or 1.8 euro per pack.
“The current level of excise duties in Serbia is 70 euro per 1,000 cigarettes in the category of the weighted average retail price, so it was necessary to carefully evaluate the proposed changes in order to avoid changes in the structure and volume of consumption,” reads the explanation of the proposed changes and the amendment to the Excise Law.
In addition to cigarettes, the levy on the shredded tobacco will be significantly increased from the current 40% to 60% of the minimum excise duty on 1,000 cigarettes determined for the weighted average retail price category.
This will take place as early as January 1 and will be valid until December 31, 2021, which practically means that excise duties on tobacco will increase from the current 6.76% of the retail price to 9.7%. The explanation for this increase is that the state wants to reduce the difference between tobacco and cigarette excise duties in the next period.
(Alo, 04.12.2020)
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