Simplifying your Customs experience

In the build up to the earliest Brexit deadlines in 2019, HMRC announced a series of easements designed to simplify the movement of good from the EU into the UK. HMRC has announced changes that will see the flagship easement TSP, which was to be the responsibility for the importer, replaced with a more user-friendly CFSP solution, which will also benefit traders importing from outside the EU.

The default import clearance procedure is a Customs declaration on a form C88, for goods coming in from outside the EU and for good imported from the EU after the transition period ends.

To simplify the import process for EU imports after transition ends, HMRC has announced that approved customs brokers, like Metro, can extend access to our Customs Freight Simplified Procedures (CFSP) to customers, from 1st January 2021, offering significant cost, operational and cashflow benefits.

The C88 form consists a series of boxes which need to be completed, need specific codes and other boxes that need to be left blank. It’s complex.

If there are any delays in your goods clearing Customs, then you could face daily storage charges, which can quickly add up, which is why most traders prefer to use an agent like Metro.

But things can still go wrong including………

Incorrect Customs declarations
Typical errors result from a lack of information, leading to a missing value or an incorrect description of goods, which could result in an incorrect classification and shipment being held and placed under query by HMRC.Incorrect paperwork
Even a minor detail, can cause severe delays to your shipment, leading to service issues if the good are required immediately.Missing paperwork
When there is missing or incomplete documents, the shipment will be delayed, as the agent cannot submit the Customs entry.Customs Freight Simplified Procedures (CFSP) was introduced in 2001 to make non-EU imports and customs warehouse procedures simpler and more flexible offering a streamlined process for clearing imported goods that covers authorisation, removal and release, reporting and auditing:Simplified frontier declarations provide faster release of goods at the (air)port and authorised inland locationsOption to extend to include warehouse and other customs regimesImproved cash flow, with duty and Import VAT payment extensionSupplementary Declaration submitted on the fourth working day of the monthThis combination of Simplified frontier declarations and Supplementary Declarations means that duty and VAT on the import becomes due later in the process and closer to the time that you expect payment for the goods from your customer.