Guidance

Delaying declarations for goods brought into Great Britain

Check if you can delay sending HMRC full information about your goods by up to 175 days and the actions you need to take before the deadline.

• From: HM Revenue & Customs
• Published: 10 July 2020
• Last updated: 29 August 2023 — See all updates

This guidance was withdrawn on 31 January 2024

You can no longer submit delayed declarations for goods brought into Great Britain (England, Scotland and Wales).

You can find out the rules if you made an import declaration in your records without authorisation on or before 30 January 2024.

Applies to England, Scotland and Wales

• Guidance for Northern Ireland

Arrangements for movements from Ireland and in some cases Northern Ireland to Great Britain will change from 31 January 2024. This will include specific changes for food and feed businesses. You can find more information about new requirements in the Border Target Operating Model. You should continue to use this guidance for now. It will be updated in due course.

For goods brought into Great Britain (England, Scotland and Wales) from Northern Ireland or Ireland, you (or someone who deals with customs for you) may be able to delay sending HMRC the full information about your goods by up to 175 days after import.

You cannot delay declarations and must follow the normal rules for making an import declaration if either:

• your goods are brought in from the EU (not including Ireland) or countries outside of the EU
• your goods are controlled
• HMRC has told you to, because you have a poor compliance record

If your business is not established in the UK, you must get someone established in the UK to act indirectly on your behalf for customs.

When you can delay declarations

You can delay declarations if your goods are not controlled, they are in free circulation in the EU before they move to Great Britain, HMRC has not told you that you cannot delay declarations and either:

• you bring goods from free circulation in Ireland (including goods that started their movement in Northern Ireland) into free circulation in Great Britain
• you bring goods that need to be declared from Northern Ireland (including goods that started their movement in Ireland) into free circulation in Great Britain

Goods moving from Northern Ireland or Ireland, into free circulation in Great Britain

You must be moving goods that are in free circulation from Ireland (or Northern Ireland, if declarations are needed) into free circulation in Great Britain that have been declared and had duties paid. This can be one of the following:

• directly from import
• from a customs special procedure in Great Britain (for example customs warehousing)
• from a temporary storage facility in Great Britain
• using transit – if the movement of the goods started in the EU and ended in Great Britain

If you brought goods into Great Britain from the EU in 2021

If you brought goods into Great Britain from the EU between 1 January 2021 and 31 December 2021, you must contact HMRC if both of these apply:

• you chose to delay making a declaration for those goods
• you have not yet made a supplementary declaration for those goods

You must tell HMRC about late declarations as soon as possible. If you voluntarily tell HMRC about declarations not submitted on time, we can help you get it right in future.

Delaying declarations if someone else is dealing with customs for you

You must consider how long each step takes so that you do not risk leaving it too late.

You’ll need to do the following:

1. Get an Economic Operators Registration and Identification (EORI) number starting GB. You must do this before you start moving your goods. This can take up to 5 working days.

2. Get someone to deal with customs for you.

3. You or the person acting on your behalf will need to apply for an account to defer duty payments, and be authorised to use simplified customs declarations processes to make supplementary declarations.

4. If you’re VAT registered, estimate the import VAT to be accounted for on the VAT Return covering the date the goods were imported.

5. If you’re established in the UK, when you import your goods you can either enter the goods in your records yourself and then get someone else to make the supplementary declaration on your behalf, or get someone else to enter the goods in their records and make the supplementary declaration on your behalf. You’ll need to provide these details to your representative for them to record.

6. If you’re not established in the UK, you must get someone who is established in the UK to enter the goods in their records and make the supplementary declaration on your behalf.

Delaying declarations if you’re doing them yourself

You must consider how long each step takes so that you do not risk leaving it too late.

You’ll need to:

1. Get an EORI number starting GB. You must do this before you start moving your goods. This can take up to 5 working days.

2. Enter the details of these goods in your own records, and if you’re VAT registered estimate the import VAT to be accounted for on your VAT Return covering the date you imported the goods.

3. Make a delayed supplementary declaration using the Customs Declaration Service within 175 days after the goods are entered in your records.

4. Apply for an account to defer duty payments. You will need to have a duty deferment account to be authorised for simplified customs declarations processes to pay any duties and taxes due. When we have all the information to process your application, we will aim to complete this within 30 working days.

5. Choose how you’ll make supplementary declarations for EU goods brought into Great Britain, that you entered into your own records without authorisation. You must then apply for authorisation to use simplified declarations at least 60 days before you need to make your first supplementary declaration.

6. Adjust the import VAT you estimated when you complete your next VAT Return. If you are not VAT registered, you must pay the import VAT after you submit your supplementary declaration.

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You must also submit monthly Intrastat supplementary declarations for arrivals from the EU if you’re required to.

Check if you need to make an entry summary declaration

You should also check if you need to make an entry summary declaration, also known as a safety and security declaration, when you bring goods into Great Britain.

Published 10 July 2020
Last updated 29 August 2023 + show all updates

1. 29 August 2023

   Added information to show arrangements for movements from Ireland and in some cases Northern Ireland and Great Britain are changing from 31 January 2024.

2. 5 July 2022

   Guidance has been updated to explain that you can no longer apply for a Customs Handling of Import and Export Freight (CHIEF) badge code for imports.

3. 1 July 2022

   If you brought goods into Great Britain from the EU between 1 January 2021 and 31 December 2021, you must contact HMRC if you chose to delay making a declaration for those goods by up to 175 days and you have not yet made a supplementary declaration for those goods.

4. 16 May 2022

   The section 'Related guidance' has been replaced with the section 'Check if you need to make an entry summary declaration'.

5. 17 December 2021

   You can delay declarations if you brought goods from EU free circulation into free circulation in Great Britain, between 1 January 2021 and 31 December 2021, or if you bring goods from free circulation in Ireland (including goods that started their movement in Northern Ireland) into free circulation in Great Britain, from 1 January 2022, or if you bring goods that need to be declared from Northern Ireland (including goods that started their movement in Ireland) into free circulation in Great Britain, from 1 January 2022.

6. 28 June 2021

   Guidance updated to tell you when to get an EORI number, when you (or the person acting on your behalf) can apply for an account to defer duty payments, what to do if you’re VAT registered (whether you or another person completes your declarations) and how to adjust your estimated import VAT when completing your next VAT Return if you do declarations yourself.

7. 25 May 2021

   The guidance has been updated to clarify when you can delay declarations, how to delay declarations and the actions you need to take and when.

8. 16 March 2021

   The final date that you can use the deferred declaration scheme, including submitting supplementary declarations up to 175 days after the goods have been imported, has been changed from 30 June 2021 to 31 December 2021. The date when you will need to submit safety and security declarations for imports into Great Britain from some countries has also changed, from 1 July 2021 to 1 January 2022.

9. 10 July 2020

   First published.