For the majority of the last 30 years, HM Revenue and Customs’ (HMRC) Customs Handling of Import and Export Freight (CHIEF) system has been at the forefront of customs declarations in the UK. However, in a two-stage approach, CHIEF will be replaced by the newer Customs Declaration Service (CDS).
On 30 September 2022, CHIEF will no longer be available to use to submit import declarations and, on 31 March 2023, export declarations will close on CHIEF and the National Export System (NES).
ACTION REQUIRED – In order to avoid the risk of being unable to import goods into the UK from 1 October 2022, any importer not already registered on CDS should do so as soon as possible.
Importantly, for any importer who has been taking advantage of the Postponed Import VAT Accounting (PVA) arrangements, they will already have had to register for CDS and there is no requirement to register again. However, for new importers, or importers that have not previously used PVA to account for the import VAT, the following steps to obtaining a registration may be required.
1. OBTAIN A GOVERNMENT GATEWAY ACCOUNT
If you are VAT-registered in the UK, there is a strong likelihood that you already have a Government Gateway account. In which case, you can skip this step.
2. REGISTER FOR AN EORI NUMBER
An Economic Operators Registration and Identification (EORI) number is required move goods between Great Britain and any other country, including, Northern Ireland, the EU and the Channel Islands. A separate EORI number is required if you are moving goods into and out of Northern Ireland.
Again, you can skip this step if you already have a EORI Number.
3. SUBSCRIBE TO CDS
You can subscribe to the CDS services by clicking here.
This is a simple process and access is usually available within two hours, although, it could take up to five days if HMRC needs to undertake more checks.
Importantly, if you do not operate PVA, you will no longer receive C79 Import VAT Certificates from HMRC by post. Instead, you will need to access them from CDS through the CDS Financial Dashboard.
