Customs Audits

If you are a UK importer or exporter (trading with countries outside the EU) then you will be subject to audit by HMRC in respect of these transactions. These audits could involve a visit to your premises or you may be asked to send specified documents to them.

The main purpose of the audit is to target under-declarations of duty and import VAT or other irregularities. If, by chance, the officer should discover that duty has been over-declared you should be informed of the facts and invited to submit a claim for repayment.

It is likely that the audit will focus on just one or two specific aspects of your import / export transactions. On import entries alone aspects such as classification, valuation, currency codes or import preferences could be targeted. Use of any CPC other than 40 00 00 usually involves a statement by the importer that something has occurred or will occur to the goods and this accuracy of this statement may be verified. If you are authorised for regimes such as IPR or Customs warehousing then, clearly, these are other aspects subject to audit.

HMRC selects traders for audit on a risk-based system part of which takes into account your revenue history. The more errors detected, the more audits will be undertaken.

You must bear in mind that Customs audits focus on areas that might yield under-declarations of duty. Their view is that the importer should undertake checks to ensure that the customs declarations made are correct. Your accountant undertakes checks on your tax affairs but does anyone check the accuracy of your customs entries?

I will undertake a duty health check for you. I aim to ensure that you won’t get unexpected bills from HMRC and, unlike HMRC, I aim to ensure you are not overpaying duty.

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Customs Audits