Guidance on how to make sure the correct duty is applied to goods you bring into Northern Ireland
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Find out how to declare your goods so the correct duty is applied.
From: HM Revenue & Customs Published 15 December 2020 Last
updated 9 June 2023 — See all updates Contents Declaring goods
‘not at risk’ Calculating applicable duty Claiming preference under
a Free Trade Agreement Suspending duty through special procedures
The government and the EU have agreed the Windsor...Request free trial
Find out how to declare your goods so the correct duty is applied. From: Published 15 December 2020 Last updated 9 June 2023 — See all updates Contents
The government and the EU have agreed the Windsor Framework. Under the Windsor Framework, the UK Internal Market Scheme is replacing the UK Trader Scheme from 30 September 2023. If you are a business that brings goods into Northern Ireland from countries outside of both the EU and UK, you will need to provide declarations for those goods. It is important that you complete your declarations correctly so that the right tariff treatment is applied to the goods. Whether duty is payable on the goods you bring into Northern Ireland from countries outside of both the EU and UK, and how much duty that is, will depend on:
Declaring goods ‘not at risk’ If you are moving goods into Northern Ireland from countries outside of both the EU and UK then you will either need to pay the EU or the UK duty, depending on whether your goods are ‘at risk’ or ‘not at risk’. Your goods will be ‘at risk’ where the applicable EU duty is higher than the applicable UK duty and the difference is equal to or greater than 3 percentage points. The EU duty will be due on these goods as they are automatically ‘at risk’. Where your goods are not automatically ‘at risk’ because of the applicable EU duty, you may consider if you can declare these goods ‘not at risk’ under the UK Trader Scheme. To do this, you will need to:
You must declare your goods ‘not at risk’ where the UK duty is equal to or higher than the applicable EU duty. The UK duty will be due on these goods. You cannot declare goods that will be subject to processing in Northern Ireland as ‘not at risk’, unless you are authorised under the UK Trader Scheme or the UK Internal Market Scheme and meet the additional processing requirements for these goods. If you already hold a UK Trader Scheme authorisation, use it until you are authorised for the UK Internal Market Scheme. Once you are authorised for the UK Internal Market Scheme, you should use the UK Internal Market Scheme authorisation for goods that you move on and after the date that you are authorised. If you are completing a supplementary declaration you should use the authorisation you held at the time your goods were moved. You can no longer use the UK Trader Scheme as the authorisation for goods moving from 30 September 2023. Calculating applicable duty To calculate the applicable duty due on the goods you bring into Northern Ireland from countries outside of both the EU and UK, you must consider:
Claiming preference under a Free Trade Agreement Where goods meet the relevant rules of origin requirements, the preferential rates under separate EU and UK free trade agreements with other countries should be used when calculating the applicable duty to decide if the goods are ‘at risk’ or not. To do this, you must hold supporting evidence that your goods meet the requirements to claim the preferential rate. Evidence requirements will vary by agreement but there is general guidance. If you are bringing goods into Northern Ireland from a country that has a free trade agreement with the EU, you can claim a preferential rate if:
If you are bringing goods into Northern Ireland from a country that has a free trade agreement with the UK, you can claim a preferential rate if your goods:
If you bring goods into Northern Ireland from a country that has a separate free trade agreement with both the UK and EU, the preferential rates should be used to calculate the duty, provided:
If the duty under both agreements is 0% then, subject to there being no other duty, measures or reliefs, including consideration of the ‘at risk’ rules on goods subject to processing and trade remedies, the goods will be ‘not at risk’ and the UK preferential duty (0%) will be due. If your goods are only able to meet the rules of origin requirements under the UK free trade agreement, then the applicable EU duty will be at the Most Favoured Nation (MFN) rate. Where the applicable EU duty is:
Suspending duty through special procedures You may want to consider using customs special procedures to suspend the duty payment on the goods you bring into Northern Ireland where duty would otherwise be due. Special procedures can help with cashflow, by delaying or in some cases removing the need for duty payment, including where you:
You can declare goods ‘not at risk’ when they are declared into, and discharged from, special procedures subject to meeting the relevant conditions to declare goods ‘not at risk’. If you declare your goods ‘at risk’ on entry to the special procedure, this does not stop you from declaring them ‘not at risk’ when you declare them out of the procedure. A financial guarantee is usually required while duty is suspended. If you are able to declare your goods ‘not at risk’ on entry to the special procedure in Northern Ireland and UK duty has not been paid yet, your guarantee requirement will be at the UK rate of duty. If the goods are ‘at risk’, the guarantee requirement will be at the EU rate of duty. When discharging your goods from a special procedure into free circulation in Northern Ireland, you will need to work out if your goods are ‘at risk’ or ‘not at risk’ in the same way as you would at import. If:
When discharging your goods from a special procedure, and not into free circulation in Northern Ireland, if you:
If you are bringing goods into Northern Ireland for processing and do not meet the additional requirements to declare these goods ‘not at risk’, the Inward Processing procedure may be useful. You can suspend duty while you process your goods and do not need to take into account the processing undertaken during the procedure when declaring goods ‘not at risk’ when you declare them out of the procedure. If you are not sure of the final destination of your goods when bringing them into Northern Ireland, the Customs Warehousing procedure may be useful. You can suspend duty while you store goods in the Customs Warehouse. When discharging goods from the procedure, you can declare those that are:
You may want to consider if other special procedures may be of help. |