VAT, Import/Exports and Brexit Update June 2022

There are lots of things to keep your eyes on at the moment, so to try to help, we have gone through the recent HMRC changes for Making Tax Digital, Imports and Exports and Trading with Northern Ireland and hopefully answers any questions that you may have below.

Making Tax Digital

VAT Registered businesses that were below the threshold for compulsory registration for Making Tax Digital (MTD) now must register for MTD and submit returns in accordance with the MTD rules. A letter is being sent to over 200,000 businesses this week regarding this.

Is this relevant to me?

Well, the vast majority of our customers will already be doing this BUT some customers may have other companies, such as holding companies or similar companies that now fall into this category, actions now need to be taken regarding these if they are VAT registered and not registered for MTD. HMRC have published some help pages to help - click here.

Imports and Exports

CHIEF is being shut down from September 2022, you need to swap to using CDS (or your freight forwarder needs to swap to CDS). The Customs Declaration Service (CDS) is the new more digital portal for submitting customs documents. It is also where you get your Postponed VAT Accounting monthly statement from if you are using this.

Do I need to take action?

Yes if you handle your own import/export documentation and are still using CHIEF.

The letter can be found here with further information.

If you do not handle it yourselves then check with your Freight Forwarder.

Trading with Northern Ireland

The Northern Ireland Protocol formed part of the Brexit arrangements, it has meant there are far more internal restrictions on trade between Northern Ireland and mainland UK, even when the goods are destined to stay in NI and not be sold onwards into the EU.

What is changing?

Quite a lot possibly, as the UK Government has a Bill that will substantially change the post-Brexit rules for trade between Northern Ireland and mainland UK. They have published this page explaining the proposed bill and the changes it will bring in

Want to know more?

We hope this information is helpful to you, if you need further help then please contact your Tecman Account Manager to arrange assistance. For VAT or Customs advice, however, we suggest you refer to specialist sources.

Written by George
22nd June 2022