Moving forward, is your business ready for the transition period ending?

As if this year had not been challenging enough and whilst it continues to be so, the Brexit process has continued. The UK left the EU on 31st January 2020 and we are in a transition period that will end on 31st December 2020. The government has recently published a comprehensive document that sets out what will change. We want to point you to some of the resources that will help you prepare your business.

Firstly, most of the publications and help sheets that were written in the past to help you prepare for Brexit and the risk of a no-deal situation are now out of date and no longer apply.

Specifically, the Statutory Instruments (SI) that HMRC were publishing regarding no-deal Brexit have all been withdrawn. You need to start afresh gathering the relevant information for your business. Things have changed.

Some things are now fixed and will apply from 1st January 2021 (the Customs Declaration situation, the import VAT rules) so you can start preparing for those changes. Some things are still being negotiated (the UK-EU trade deal) so you need to review how WTO rules and tariffs could affect your business and if you trade across the Irish border there is also more to come on that. If you haven’t already, we strongly suggest you start.

Resources that may be useful for you

There is a new portal on Gov.UK where companies can answer a few simple questions about their business and then get access to the documents and advice most relevant to them, this includes signing up for a daily targeted email, it can be found at:

•  https://www.gov.uk/transition 

Further down the same page are two links that may be of use

• https://www.gov.uk/prepare-to-import-to-great-britain-from-january-2021
• https://www.gov.uk/prepare-to-export-from-great-britain-from-january-2021 

Where to start?

Well you could review the full 206 page document the UK government has published. There are also some excellent summary resources available, for example the UK Customs Academy in combination with the British Ports Association produced this webinar held on 23rd July following the release of the government’s Border Operating Model. This goes through the implications from an import/export perspective and is a very good starting point (the detail starts 6 mins 30 seconds in).

The Institute of Export and International Trade has created this short summary of the document and its impacts.

Specific VAT changes – information from HMRC

The main VAT change is going to be that from 1st January 2021 some businesses can (or must) account for import VAT on their VAT Return, this is known as postponed VAT accounting.

• https://www.gov.uk/guidance/check-when-you-can-account-for-import-vat-on-your-vat-return 
• https://www.gov.uk/guidance/complete-your-vat-return-to-account-for-import-vat

The VAT return will change (boxes 1, 4 and 7) and there will be a need for some changes in your VAT Posting Setup in your NAV or Business Central system to account for the changes.

We will continue to support our customers through this process, further updates will follow this post.

Need further help?

We're always available to help - drop us a line on 01902 578 300 or get in touch.