Delaying declarations for EU goods brought into Great Britain
Check if you can record goods in your own records and give HMRC the information up to 175 days later.
Most businesses hire someone to deal with customs and to transport their goods from overseas.
If your business is not established in the UK, you must get someone established in the UK to deal with customs for you (and they must act indirectly).
Import declarations
You must follow the normal rules for making an import declaration if either:
- your goods are controlled
- HMRC has told you to, because you have a poor compliance record
But if you import goods that were in EU free circulation into Great Britain (England, Scotland and Wales) free circulation between 1 January and 31 December 2021 and the goods are not controlled, you can:
- declare these goods by entering them in your own records without getting authorisation in advance
- delay sending HMRC the full information about your goods by up to 175 days on a supplementary declaration
You must also:
- account for the import VAT on your VAT Return (if you’re not VAT registered you must pay at the time you make the supplementary declaration)
- have authorisation to use simplified declarations before you can make a supplementary declaration (or use someone dealing with customs for you who has an authorisation)
- submit monthly Intrastat supplementary declarations for arrivals from the EU if you’re required to
If you decide to get someone else to deal with your customs declaration requirements for you and make all the necessary declarations on your behalf to move your goods, they’ll enter the goods in their records and make the supplementary declaration.
If you (or someone dealing with customs for you) are already authorised to use simplified declarations at the time the entry was made in the records you can still delay your supplementary declaration.
Free circulation
You must be moving goods from the EU into free circulation (declared and customs duties paid). This can be one of the following:
- directly from import
- from a customs special procedure (for example customs warehousing)
- from a temporary storage facility
- using transit – if the movement of the goods started in the EU
Transitional simplified procedures
The transitional simplified procedures which were announced for 31 January 2020 have been withdrawn. You will not be able to use them to import your goods from the EU.
Safety and security declarations
From 1 January 2021 to 31 December 2021 you can import controlled and non-controlled goods from the EU without making an entry summary declaration, this is also known as the safety and security declaration.
Last updated 16 March 2021 + show all updates
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The final date that you can use the deferred declaration scheme, including submitting supplementary declarations up to 175 days after the goods have been imported, has been changed from 30 June 2021 to 31 December 2021. The date when you will need to submit safety and security declarations for imports into Great Britain from some countries has also changed, from 1 July 2021 to 1 January 2022.
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First published.