Tax Stamps and Excise
Tax stamps and excise labels — often called banderoles — are the physical proof that duty has been paid on a product. They are applied to tobacco, alcohol, fuel and other excisable goods, and they sit at the point where fiscal control, product authentication and consumer safety meet.
Nanografi security inks are used in tax stamp and excise label printing to carry overt, covert and machine-readable verification inside the printed design itself, rather than in a separately applied device.
Tax Stamp Security Ink Solutions
- UV Offset Security Inks
- IR Security Inks
- Visible Inks
- UV Curing Security Offset Inks
- Conventional Inks
The Security Challenge
A tax stamp is attacked from two directions at once. Counterfeit stamps let untaxed product move as though duty had been paid; genuine stamps lifted from one pack and reapplied to another defeat the same control. In both cases the loss is public revenue, and the volumes involved make even a low success rate profitable for the counterfeiter.
The verification environment is unforgiving. Stamps are checked in the field — at a warehouse, a border post, a retail inspection — usually by an inspector with a UV lamp rather than a laboratory. They are produced in very high volumes at low unit cost, so the security cannot depend on an expensive applied component. And they have to survive the product they travel with: temperature swings, humidity, condensation on a chilled bottle, adhesive migration and the mechanical stress of high-speed application lines.
How Nanografi Security Inks Are Used
Tax stamp printing usually layers three levels of verification into one small printed area:
- Overt — visible inks carry the design, the fiscal marks and the colour scheme that make a genuine stamp recognisable at a glance, holding colour fidelity at high offset print speeds.
- Covert — UV offset security inks stay invisible in daylight and fluoresce under long-wave 365 nm or short-wave 254 nm illumination. Bi- and tri-fluorescent formulations respond differently at different wavelengths, so field inspection and laboratory verification can use the same printed element at two different levels.
- Machine-readable — IR security inks work through infrared absorption or reflection, outside the visible spectrum, for automated verification in inspection and track-and-trace systems.
The ink system follows the substrate. Paper-based stamps use conventional oxidative-drying inks, where the printed film develops through oxidation and absorption. Polymer and film-based stamps and labels use UV curing security offset inks, which polymerise under ultraviolet exposure and give fast drying with minimal set-off — which matters at tax stamp production volumes.
Why Security Inks Are Used Here
- Very low cost per unit — the security sits inside the printed layer, not in a separately applied device.
- Field verification with a UV lamp — no reader, no connectivity and no training programme for a first-line check.
- Resistance to photocopying and scanning, the most common route to a counterfeit stamp.
- Multi-detection — overt, covert and machine-readable features in one small area, so a single reproduction technique is not enough.
- Rub resistance and lamination-friendly behaviour for stamps that travel with the product through distribution.
- Fogra certification and quality assurance across the Nanografi security ink portfolio.
Related Technologies and Industries
Tax stamp and excise programmes are run by government revenue authorities and their appointed security printers. Closely related applications include documents of value, banknote and security paper printing and product and brand protection.
Technologies applied here: UV offset security inks, IR security inks, visible inks, UV curing security offset inks and conventional inks. See the full offset security ink portfolio or browse all security printing applications.
Every excise programme has its own substrate, application method and inspection workflow. Tell us about yours below and our technical team will respond with the relevant ink options.
CONTACT
Discuss Your Application
Tell us about your substrate, printing system and verification requirements, and our technical team will come back with the relevant ink options.