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International Trade

Customs Audit Compliance Consultancy

Don’t be caught out by an HMRC Customs audit

HMRC have started their Customs audit programme in earnest and may be visiting you to carry out their checks to ensure that you are complying with Customs regulations;

  • These checks may include visiting your business premises to:
  • Inspect goods and documents relating to customs and international trade
  • Ask for information about goods or services in the international supply chain that you provide, or will provide
  • Check you are complying with any customs-related approval, authorisation, registration or licence you hold or have applied for

HMRC is putting full responsibility on businesses who import and/or export and expects full awareness and compliance with their responsibilities

There are some key areas that international businesses need to be aware of in order to avoid any costly mistakes including;

  • Tariff Classification – understanding and applying the correct commodity codes
  • Valuation – Determining the correct value of goods for entry into a customs declaration
  • Origin – especially important since the departure of the UK from the EU and the requirements for claiming preferential duty rates under the UK-EU Trade and Co-operation Agreement

Other areas can be covered in accordance with your business needs such as;

  • Recovering import VAT
  • Complying with Customs Special Procedures (Inward/Outward Processing, Customs Warehousing, Temporary Admission, Returned Goods Relief)
  • Record management

Find out more

In addition to having to reimburse Customs where underpayment has been discovered HMRC also have a Civil Penalty system which can attract maximum penalties of £2,500 per contravention for the more significant irregularities and £1,000 per contravention for others

We can offer a customs consultancy service tailored to your individual needs to assess your compliance and identify any gaps in procedures in order to head off any surprises

For more information and to arrange a 121 session with our Customs Consultant, please contact internationaltraining@emc-dnl.co.uk