Import Declaration Services
Full frontier, simplified frontier and EIDR entries filed into CDS, with the classification, the value and the duty settled before anything is submitted. Most declarations are submitted within minutes of your paperwork reaching us.
Ways to Declare Goods Into the UK
There is more than one way to get an entry onto the Customs Declaration Service. Which suits you depends on the authorisations you hold, how you want to pay and what you are bringing in.
Full Frontier Declarations
The complete entry, lodged before or on arrival, with duty and import VAT settled up front. It needs no authorisation beyond an EORI, which is why most importers use it.
Simplified Frontier Declarations
A reduced dataset at the border for traders authorised under the Simplified Customs Declaration Process, with the detail following in a supplementary declaration once the goods are released.
Entry in Declarant's Records (EIDR)
Goods released against an entry written into your own records rather than a declaration at the frontier. It needs HMRC authorisation and records that will survive an audit.
What Goes On the Entry
Commodity codes, customs value, procedure codes and the duty and VAT that follow from them.
Goods Arriving Under Transit
T1 movements discharged at destination, then entered to free circulation without a gap.
Safety and Security on Arrival
Entry summary declarations, required on imports from the EU since 31 January 2025.
Paying the Duty and the Import VAT
The declaration decides what is owed. How and when it leaves your bank account is a separate decision, and one worth making deliberately.
Postponed VAT Accounting
Rather than paying import VAT at the border and reclaiming it later, a VAT registered importer declares and recovers it on the same return. There is no application to make, it is flagged on the declaration itself, and HMRC publishes a monthly statement you download from CDS.
Deferment and Cash Accounts
Duty, and any VAT you are not postponing, can sit on a deferment account and be collected by direct debit in the middle of the following month. The alternatives are the CDS cash account, topped up in advance, or immediate payment. We file against your account or handle payment ourselves.
Corrections After Clearance
Codes get revised, values restated and preference evidence turns up late. Overpaid duty can be reclaimed and underpaid duty disclosed, generally within three years of the entry. We would rather amend an entry than leave a wrong one waiting for an audit to find it.
What We Check Before We File
Four things account for almost every entry that gets queried, amended or held. We look at all four before the declaration goes near CDS.
Commodity Code and Classification
UK imports are declared to ten digits. The code sets the duty rate, the VAT rate, whether a licence is needed and how likely the load is to be pulled for a check.
- Classification checked against the goods, not against what the supplier put on the invoice
- Kits, sets and mixed consignments split properly rather than lumped under one code
- Advance Tariff Rulings arranged where a code is genuinely arguable
Customs Value
Most entries use the transaction value, the price actually paid, but the invoice is rarely the whole figure. Freight and insurance up to the point of introduction into the UK normally go in, and the Incoterm tells us how much is already there.
- Freight, insurance and handling apportioned properly across a groupage load
- Royalties, tooling and free-issue materials considered where they apply
Preference and Origin
A trade agreement only cuts duty if the goods meet the origin rules in it and you hold the evidence. Shipped from Rotterdam is not origin. Under the UK and EU agreement a claim rests on a statement on origin from your supplier or on importer's knowledge.
- Statements on origin checked for wording, reference and validity period
- Retrospective claims made where preference was missed, generally within three years
Licences, Controls and Document Codes
Plenty of goods clear on the code alone. Plenty do not. Products of animal origin, plants, excise goods and anything under quota need the right document codes on the entry, and advance notification where the goods face sanitary or phytosanitary control.
- Document and waiver codes matched to the commodity code before submission
- Loads routed through Sevington, which is both an inland border facility and a Defra border control post
Send the Invoice, Get the Entry Number
There is nothing to install and no template to fill in. Send the documents in whatever form you already have them and we come back on anything missing before we file, rather than after HMRC rejects it.
- Documents in. Commercial invoice, packing list, transport detail and any certificates. Email is fine.
- Pre-check. Code, value, origin, licences and the procedure code that fits what you are doing with the goods.
- Payment route agreed. Postponed VAT accounting, deferment, cash account or immediate payment.
- Filed to CDS. Under your EORI or ours, with the entry number back to you and the driver.
- Released or chased. If HMRC routes the consignment for a check, we handle the query and keep you informed.
Why Importers Hand Us the Entries
Two thirds of what we do is customs work and the rest is moving the freight ourselves, so the entry and the vehicle are one conversation.
Cover, Not Office Hours
Imports land overnight and at weekends, which is when a good share of our entries are filed.
From Paperwork to Filed
Most entries go in within minutes of your documents arriving, and most clear on submission.
Authorised By HMRC
AEO Authorised for customs simplifications, and members of BIFA and FIATA.
From 40+ Google Reviews
Mostly from hauliers, forwarders and importers who deal with us at unsociable hours.
Import Declaration FAQs
How long does an import declaration take?
We normally submit within minutes of receiving complete paperwork, and most entries clear on submission. What adds time is a check. If HMRC routes the consignment for a documentary or physical examination, clearance waits on that rather than on the filing. The two hour target you may have read about applies to queried declarations, not to straight through clearance.
What is the difference between a full frontier declaration and a simplified one?
A full frontier declaration carries the whole dataset in one go, so duty and VAT are settled at clearance and nothing further is owed. A simplified frontier declaration carries a reduced dataset to release the goods, with the detail following in a supplementary declaration. Simplified needs authorisation and a deferment account. Full frontier needs neither.
When does the supplementary declaration have to be submitted?
Early in the month after the goods were released, with the duty accounted for on your deferment account in the same cycle. The exact deadline sits in your authorisation. The real risk is not the date, it is reaching it without the supporting data collected.
Does my business qualify for EIDR?
EIDR is an authorisation, not a setting, so HMRC has to approve you. They look at compliance history, financial standing and whether your records can reconstruct a declaration from your own systems. Controlled goods in particular are restricted. We can look at your profile and say whether applying is worth the effort.
Should I be using postponed VAT accounting?
For most VAT registered importers, yes, because it takes import VAT out of your cash flow rather than tying it up until the next return. There is nothing to apply for, we flag it on the declaration. You then download the monthly statement from CDS and use those figures on your return.
Who is liable if a commodity code turns out to be wrong?
The importer of record carries liability for what is declared, which is why we query codes that do not match the goods. Acting as your direct representative, we are responsible for filing accurately from what you give us. If a code needs changing we amend the entry and handle the reclaim or disclosure.
Get your next import entry filed properly
Send us an invoice and a packing list and we will tell you the code, the duty, the VAT position and what it costs to clear.