FHDDS31300 - Approval, revoking the approval and variations: approval – policy: when someone must seek approval

(The Fulfilment Businesses Regulations 2018, regulation 3)

The deadlines by which fulfilment businesses must have applied for approval from HMRC are shown below.

Applications should have been made via the online application portal which is accessed through the Government Gateway. Applicants need to apply for a Government Gateway account before they can access the application form for registration. Apply for a Government Gateway account on gov.uk.

The dates by which approval must have been sought:

  • an existing fulfilment businesses trading as such on or before 31 March 2018 must apply by 30 June 2018.
  • a fulfilment business that starts trading between 1 April 2018 and 30 June 2018 will need to apply on or before 30 September 2018.
  • a fulfilment business that starts trading on or after 1 July 2018, must apply by 1 October, 2018 or by the day on which it starts trading (whichever is the later).
  • They must not trade without approval from HMRC on or after 1 April 2019.

Transitional arrangements

Transitional arrangements apply for those Great Britain businesses who need to register for the Fulfilment House Due Diligence Scheme from the end of the transition period (11pm on 31 December 2020) as a result of the UK’s departure from the EU.

The transitional arrangements only apply to Great Britain fulfilment houses that:

  • were carrying on a fulfilment house business before the end of the transition period but were not registered for the Fulfilment House Due Diligence Scheme because all of the goods stored were acquired from within the EU and owned by EU businesses
  • start carrying on a fulfilment house business between the end of the transition period and 30 June 2021 and would not have required registration under the Fulfilment House Due Diligence Scheme if it was operating before the end of the transition period. This means that this new fulfilment house business only has customers who are based in an EU member state after the end of the transition period
  • start carrying on a fulfilment house business between 1 July 2021 and 30 September 2021 and has customers who are based outside the UK