Delaying declarations for goods brought into Great Britain

For goods brought into Great Britain (England, Scotland and Wales),Wales) from Northern Ireland or Ireland, you (or someone who deals with customs for you) may be able to delay sending HMRC the full information about your goods by up to 175 days after import.

However,You you cannot delay declarations and must follow the normal rules for making an import declaration if either:

• your goods are brought in from the EU (not including Ireland) or countries outside of the EU
• your goods are controlled
• HMRC has told you to, because you have a poor compliance record

When you can delay declarations

You can delay declarations if your goods are not controlled, they are movingin fromfree circulation in the EU freebefore circulationthey andmove to Great Britain, HMRC has not told you that you cannot delay declarations,declarations and either:

• you brought goods from EU free circulation into free circulation in Great Britain, between 1 January 2021 and 31 December 2021
• you bring goods from free circulation in Ireland (including goods that started their movement in Northern Ireland) into free circulation in Great Britain
• you bring goods that need to be declared from Northern Ireland (including goods that started their movement in Ireland) into free circulation in Great Britain

Goods movedmoving from theNorthern EU,Ireland or goods moving from Ireland, into free circulation in Great Britain

You must havebe movedmoving EUgoods freethat circulationare goodsin into free circulation in Great Britain between 1 January 2021 and 31 December 2021, or move goods from Ireland free(or circulationNorthern (includingIreland, goodsif thatdeclarations startedare theirneeded) movement in Northern Ireland) into free circulation in Great Britain (declaredthat have been declared and customshad duties paid).paid. This can be one of the following:

• directly from import
• from a customs special procedure in Great Britain (for example customs warehousing)
• from a temporary storage facility in Great Britain
• using transit – if the movement of the goods started in the EU and ended in Great Britain

If you brought goods into Great Britain from the EU in 2021

If you brought goods into Great Britain from the EU between 1 January 2021 and 31 December 2021, you must contact HMRC if both:

• you chose to delay making a declaration for those goods
• you have not yet made a supplementary declaration for those goods

You must tell HMRC about late declarations as soon as possible. If you voluntarily tell HMRC about declarations not submitted on time, we can help you get it right in future

Delaying declarations if someone else is dealing with customs for you

You’ll need to:

1. Get an Economic Operators Registration and Identification (EORI) number starting GB. You must do this before you start moving your goods. This can take up to 5 working days.

2. Get someone to deal with customs for you.

3. You or the person acting on your behalf will need to apply for an account to defer duty payments, and be authorised to use simplified customs declarations processes to make supplementary declarations.

4. If you’re VAT registered, estimate the import VAT to be accounted for on the VAT Return covering the date the goods were imported.

5. If you’re established in the UK, when you import your goods you can either enter the goods in your records yourself and then get someone else to make the supplementary declaration on your behalf, or get someone else to enter the goods in their records and make the supplementary declaration on your behalf. You’ll need to provide these details to your representative for them to record.

6. If you’re not established in the UK, you must get someone who is established in the UK to enter the goods in their records and make the supplementary declaration on your behalf.

Delaying declarations if you’re doing them yourself

You’ll need to:

1. Get an EORI number starting GB. You must do this before you start moving your goods. This can take up to 5 working days.

2. Enter the details of these goods in your own records, and if you’re VAT registered estimate the import VAT to be accounted for on your VAT Return covering the date you imported the goods.

3. Research and buy Customs Handling of Import and Export Freight (CHIEF) software and get a CHIEF badge.

4. Apply for an account to defer duty payments. You will need to have a duty deferment account to be authorised for simplified customs declarations processes to pay any duties and taxes due. When we have all the information to process your application, we will aim to complete this within 30 working days.

5. Choose how you’ll make supplementary declarations for EU goods brought into Great Britain, that you entered into your own records without authorisation. You must then apply for authorisation to use simplified declarations at least 60 days before you need to make your first supplementary declaration.

6. Make a delayed supplementary declaration using CHIEF or using the Customs Declaration Service within 175 days after the goods are entered in your records.

7. Adjust the import VAT you estimated when you complete your next VAT Return. If you are not VAT registered, you must pay the import VAT after you submit your supplementary declaration using CHIEF or using the Customs Declaration Service.

You must also submit monthly Intrastat supplementary declarations for arrivals from the EU if you’re required to.

Check if you need to make an entry summary declaration

You mayshould also check if you need to make an entry summary declaration, (alsoalso known as a safety and security declaration)declaration, forwhen your goods.

Check if you needbring togoods makeinto anGreat entry summary declaration.Britain.