Moving goods from GB to Northern Ireland: More information about “at risk”

*** Update as at 14/10/21***

Claim a waiver for duty on goods that you bring to Northern Ireland from Great Britain or countries outside the UK and EU has been updated with a new Customs Duty waivers form and guidance for traders in National Cap sectors on how to claim a waiver.  (National Cap is not explained in the guidance, but it appears to have been updated for agricultural, fishery and aquaculture products.)

***Update as at 19/1/21***

Within Claim a waiver for duty on goods that you bring to Northern Ireland from Great Britain,  HMRC have added a section What to do if you exceed your allowance in relation to the 3 year rolling duty waiver

***Update as at 5/4/21***

HMRC have updated Check if you can declare goods you bring into Northern Ireland not ‘at risk’ of moving to the EU from 1 January 2021to include more information about when goods are classed as "not at risk".

Part 2 CDS Declaration Completion Requirements for The Northern Ireland Protocol provides more informaiton about how the duty waiver can be claimed on movements of "at risk" goods from Great Britain to Northern Ireland.  An important point to note is that the waiver cannot currently be claimed post-clearance - it is important that an "NIAID" Additional Information statement code is included on declarations.

***Update as at 22/12/20***

HMRC have issue more information about how businesses in Northern Ireland can Claim a waiver for duty on goods that you bring to Northern Ireland from Great Britain.  This is where goods have been classed as "at risk" and duty is payable.  Up to Euros 200,000 of aid over 3 tax years can be claimed. The limit applies to a corporate groups -so would apply to a university and its subsidiaries.  What is not clear is if this is separate to the "not for profit " categorisation set out below.

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More guidance has been issued by HMRC about when goods are classed as “at risk”. The issue is that if goods are moved from GB to NI and then onward into the EU, differences in import duty (if relevant) will not have been paid on the import of the goods into the EU.

Andrea has worked through this and for our collegues in Northern Ireland, believes that you need to take the following action:

• apply for authorisation for the UK Trader Scheme by 31 December 2020 – this will enable you to declare goods as not “ at risk”
• It appears that you can declare goods as not “at risk” if you intend to bring them into Northern Ireland for “not for profit activities carried out by importers in Northern Ireland”

If goods are classed as not “at risk” you will either pay 0% duty when moving goods from GB to NI or you will pay the UK duty rate if the goods have come into N I from outside the EU.

2            If you are bringing in the goodss for profit making activities (e.g. for a subsidiary of the university),you will need to check if the goods you are bringing into NI are not “at risk”

This will be the case if:

• The UK tariff is equal to or higher that the applicable EU tariff (NB if the difference if more than 3% then the UK Trader Scheme cannot be used)
• The goods are for final use or consumption in NI or for UK trade

NB further guidance will follow as to whether any EU tariff can be “waived”.