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Trader Support Service users: Information about moving goods from Great Britain to Northern Ireland

Updated 14 April 2025

On 25 October 2024, HMRC communicated that traders needed to be ready for new arrangements for moving goods from Great Britain (GB) to Northern Ireland (NI) by 31 March 2025. This includes freight and business-to-business parcels.

Subject to the relevant procedures, the new arrangements as set out in the Windsor Framework are planned to take effect from 1 May 2025.

If you are UK Internal Market Scheme (UKIMS) registered, your authorisation will allow you to benefit from simplified processes for Internal Market Movements.. This means you’ll be able to use Internal Market Movement Information (IMMI) for certain movements instead of a full declaration, so you will be able to provide less information, while ensuring that no customs duty is charged on these goods.

If you’re sending parcels from a business in Great Britain to a consumer in Northern Ireland, you won’t need to submit a declaration and do not need to be registered in any scheme.

This document gives you more information about how you will use the IMMI if you move goods using the Trader Support Service (TSS).

When you can use Internal Market Movement Information  

You can use IMMI for goods movements if the goods: 

• are ‘not at risk’ of entering the European Union (EU) under UKIMS  
• are Standard or Category 2 goods 
• are in free circulation in Great Britain and will be moving into free circulation in Northern Ireland 
• move via direct transport from Great Britain to Northern Ireland. This includes goods moved under transit which pass through countries in the Common Transit Convention 
• are not covered by any exclusions – see ‘When you can’t use the Internal Market Movement Information’ 

Categories of goods 

There are 3 categories of goods: Standard, Category 2 and Category 1. You can use IMMI for Standard goods and Category 2 goods.  

Standard goods

This includes agri-food goods that move under the Northern Ireland Retail Movement Scheme (NIRMS), can be declared using a 6-digit commodity code. 

Category 2

This excise products and goods subject to EU Import Controls, you’ll need an 8-digit commodity code and must declare your licence or certificate on IMMI to release them. 

Category 1

Category 1 goods cannot be moved under UKIMS and therefore are excluded from IMMI. This means goods that are subject to: 

• restrictions enforced by Article 215 of The Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU)  
• total bans or prohibitions  
• trade defence measures  
• EU tariff quotas claimed by an importer  
• EU quotas (not including tariff rate quotas)

You can use the Northern Ireland Online Tariff Tool  to check the category of your goods or read further guidance on how to categorise your goods.

When you can’t use the Internal Market Movement Information 

If any of the following exclusions apply, you’ll need to use the TSS Simplified Procedure by submitting a full declaration, as you do now. 

This applies when: 

• the goods are not being directly transported from Great Britain to Northern Ireland  
• you are not authorised for UKIMS 
•  You’re claiming relief from customs duty on your goods on entry to free circulation into Northern Ireland 
• your goods are being entered into any Special Procedure upon arrival in Northern Ireland. However, they can still be entered into an Excise Warehouse using IMMI  
• your goods are Category 1 goods 

How to submit an Internal Market Movement Information  

You should use the Trader Support Service or customs declaration software to submit IMMI.  

Your customs intermediary must use customs declaration software if they’re submitting it on your behalf.

When to submit the Internal Market Movement Information 

You can submit IMMI either pre-movement, or post-movement using the Entry in Declarant’s Records (EIDR) process, known as the TSS Simplified Procedure. If you’ve used the simplified frontier declaration process, you may be able to use IMMI to complete your supplementary declaration.  

If you’re submitting IMMI pre-movement you will need to do this before the goods board either:  

• a vessel or train departing for locations in Northern Ireland that use the Goods Vehicle Movement Service (GVMS); or 
• a vessel departing for a location that needs you to submit an import declaration before your goods depart for Northern Ireland  

If you are submitting IMMI post movement and you use the TSS for EIDR movements (known as the TSS simplified procedure), you will also be able to use IMMI to complete information about your movements. This means you will be required to provide significantly less information than in existing supplementary declarations.

Information you’ll need  to submit the Internal Market Movement Information

To submit IMMI, you’ll need to know:

Details of those involved in the movement

• the EORI number associated with your UKIMS authorisation
• your UKIMS authorisation number
• details about the exporter and importer (such as their EORI number or full name and address)
• information about the intermediary (if you are using one)

Information about the goods being moved

• a description of the goods
• the commodity code of the goods – you can check this using the Online Tariff Tool (OTT) and it can also be pre-populated using your Trader Goods Profile (TGP)
• the value and quantity of the goods
• the country of origin of the goods
• the goods category under the Windsor Framework

Information about how the goods are being moved

• where the goods are being moved to and from
• the mode of transport for moving the goods
• the number of packages in the consignment

Information about the customs procedures

• the customs procedure being used

You may also need:  

• certificates and licences if your goods are Category 2 goods  
• your NIRMS reference number, if you are moving goods under NIRMS

Trader Goods Profile  

All UKIMS traders will be provided with a TGP, a unique record populated with the goods that you regularly move from Great Britain to Northern Ireland. Instead of providing commodity codes to the Trader Support Service or an agent for each movement, the TGP will pre-populate certain data elements in IMMI. You will only need to provide a product reference or simple goods description alongside standard commercial information.  

HMRC will be able to pre-populate some of your TGP based on our records of goods you already move to Northern Ireland. You will be able to access your TGP through the TSS portal.

New authorisation for UKIMS Traders

The UKIMS Entry in Declarants Records (UKIMS-EIDR) authorisation will let UKIMS-authorised traders apply for their own Entry in Declarant’s Record authorisation. Traders who hold UKIMS-EIDR are not required to submit any information about the movement to HMRC before the movement however, you must submit additional information after the movement. 

Records show that you currently use the Trader Support Service to help you move goods from Great Britain to Northern Ireland. This means you already benefit from the EIDR process.  

You can keep using the TSS when UKIMS-EIDR goes live. Therefore, you do not need to apply for UKIMS-EIDR authorisation unless you want to make your own declarations in future, without the help of the TSS.