As part of the ongoing transition from CHIEF, all export declarations must be made through the Customs Declaration Service (CDS) from 30 March 2024, when CHIEF will be switched off for export declarations.
All information in order to make the export must be entered to CDS, including:
- Details of the goods being exported
- Where the goods are being exported from
- The reason the goods are being exported
- The reason the goods are eligible for export
- What the various costs associated with the export are
As a reminder, to enrol for CDS to complete the export declaration, the exporter must have a Government Gateway ID and a GB prefixed Economic Operator Registration and Identification (EORI) number. If an individual, a Unique Tax Reference, or National Insurance number must be used. Note that an exporter cannot use the ID of a freight forwarder or customs broker, the exporter’s own ID must be used.
Once the application to register is submitted, CDS access may be granted withing a few hours, or up to two to three days, depending on what checks might have to be carried out.
CDS will allow access to various tools relevant to export and import, such as a cash account, registration for Postponed Import VAT Accounting (PIVA) and payment of customs duty and VAT through a duty deferment account, if relevant.
To make the export declaration, the following may all be relevant:
- Commodity (HS) code
- Origin
- Customs Procedure Code (CPC)
- Health certificates and licences
- Customs duty and import VAT
- Commercial invoices
- Delivery terms (incoterms)
- Weight
- Description
- Price
The exporter’s suppliers, customers, logistics and systems providers will all feed into the supply chain process and so the changes during 2024 would be a good reason to review the supply chain in full, with a view to increasing efficiency.
The move from CHIEF to CDS has resulted in an increase from just a few boxes on the declaration, to multiple data elements, designed to enhance the quality of data linked to a declaration. As the implementation of CDS continues to press ahead, HMRC is aligning its import/export system closely with the EU, in a move towards the Single Trade Window, in order to automate the import/export declaration process as much as possible and reduce the burden of administration.
If you require specialist advice in respect of import/export procedures, or a referral to a recommended customs broker, please get in touch with a member of the Menzies VAT team or contact us via the form below: