This week’s EU exit corner, 10 July 2023

In this week’s EU exit corner, we bring you the latest guidance updates and publications relevant to EU exit. We also bring you key outputs from a meeting last week on the newly opened reimbursement scheme. The latest Trader Support Service and Borders Weekly Stakeholder bulletins are also available.

Reimbursement scheme – more information

As set out last week, the long-awaited duty reimbursement scheme was launched on 30 June. The Institute lobbied on the need to open the scheme for several years and is pleased to see this come to fruition.

By way of reminder, the reimbursement scheme allows for reimbursement of tariffs paid on goods classed as being at risk which later became not at risk under the original Protocol, and on goods which will move in the new red lane which should originally have been green lane movements under the Windsor Framework.

This includes the following scenarios:-

• Final sale of goods takes place in NI;
• Goods are consumed in NI;
• Goods are destroyed in NI;
• Goods are moved back to GB from NI; and
• Goods are exported to RoW (Rest of World) from NI.

Chartered Accountants Ireland attended a meeting with UK government officials from HMRC and HM Treasury last week to discuss the reimbursement scheme in more detail. The below information was discussed in the meeting.

In order to claim, the trader must gather evidence to support the claim and submit this to HMRC via an online application where a caseworker will consider the application. More evidence may then be requested by the caseworker in order to finalise and process the application.

Claims can be made by:

• the importer for the original ‘at risk’ movement into NI, if they are established in the UK; or
• the appointed agent or representative acting on their behalf (if the original importer is not established in the UK, only their UK appointed agent or representative can submit the application).

At the meeting it was once again confirmed that interest will not be paid on refunds received by traders; HMRC stated that the reason for this is that until the regulations underpinning the scheme were laid, there was no statutory basis on which claims for refunds could be made. The Institute is considering making representations on this given the known cash flow impact that delayed refunds have had for many traders since January 2021.

It was also confirmed that reimbursements can be claimed for single or multiple movements. For goods moving from GB to NI, the full amount of the overpaid duty will be refunded. For RoW to NI movements, the duty repaid will be the difference between the UK and EU rates (if the EU rate is higher).

The difficulty that some traders will have in providing evidence to support goods originally moved on the basis of “at risk” which subsequently become “not at risk” was discussed in detail, particularly for small items which often do not have a serial number and cannot be fully traced in terms of their end use. HMRC stated that they have not set out an exhaustive list of evidence which is required to support claims but were clear that using approximate apportionments will not be sufficient.

Overall, HMRC will seek to be as pragmatic as possible to ensure the evidence provided is robust, whilst at the same time ensuring that the scheme is not open to abuse. It was pointed out that previous goods movements split between “at risk” and “not at risk” using the apportionment method on arrival into NI will be particularly problematic in terms of evidencing these becoming not at risk. In particular, the traceability of low-value non-serial numbered products brought into NI in bulk which then go into a parts store, and are used as required without any record kept, are likely to cause particular issues. HMRC is willing to discuss such cases in more detail.

The deadline for making claims is three years from the point of the original duty being paid, where this is paid after 30 June 2023. For historic claims going back to 1 January 2021, the three-year window runs from 30 June 2023 to 30 June 2026.

At the meeting HMRC also highlighted that the guidance on moving certain categories of steel into Northern Ireland without being subject to safeguard charges where relevant quotas are open has been updated.

And finally, as the scheme is now open, we welcome your feedback on its operation and any issues you may be experiencing.

Miscellaneous updated guidance etc.

• Reference Document for The Customs (Northern Ireland) (EU Exit) Regulations 2020;
• Report payments and view your allowance for non-customs state aid and Customs Duty waiver claims;
• Check if you can claim a waiver for goods brought into Northern Ireland;
• Data Element 2/3: Document and Other Reference Codes: Licence Types – Imports and Exports of the Customs Declaration Service (CDS);
• Claim a waiver for duty on goods that you bring to Northern Ireland from Great Britain or countries outside the UK and EU;
• Classifying edible fruit, vegetables and nuts for import and export;
• Reference Documents for The Customs Tariff (Preferential Trade Arrangements) (EU Exit) Regulations 2020;
• Reference Documents for The Customs (Tariff Quotas) (EU Exit) Regulations 2020;
• Notices made under s32A of the Taxation (Cross-border Trade) Act 2018;
• Customs, VAT and excise UK transition legislation from 1 January 2021;
• Simplified procedures exclusion list of procedure and additional procedure codes for CDS;
• Appendix 2: DE 1/11: Additional Procedure Codes of the Customs Declaration Service (CDS);
• Border Force customs offices list;
• Summary of movements of goods into Northern Ireland from Great Britain 2022;
• Apply for a voluntary clearance amendment (underpayment) (C2001);
• Get proof of origin for your goods; and
• Check your goods meet the rules of origin.