To file a UK customs declaration, you register for an EORI number and subscribe to HM Revenue and Customs’ Customs Declaration Service (CDS), gather the commodity code, value, origin and invoice details for your goods, submit the declaration electronically through customs software that connects to CDS, pay any duty and import VAT, and then respond to whatever clearance route HMRC assigns. Every commercial shipment moving in or out of Great Britain goes through this process, and both the EORI number and the CDS subscription are free through GOV.UK.
What You Need Before You Can File
An EORI Number
An Economic Operator Registration and Identification number is your customs identity. You need one to move goods between Great Britain and other countries, or from Northern Ireland to non-EU countries.1GOV.UK. Check an EORI Number The number starts with a two-letter country code — GB for Great Britain, XI for Northern Ireland — followed by 12 or 15 digits.2HM Revenue & Customs. EORI Numbers If you don’t already have one, you can apply during the CDS subscription process.
A CDS Subscription
The Customs Declaration Service is the UK’s single electronic customs platform.3GOV.UK. Customs Declaration Service Is Open for All Export Migration To subscribe, you need a Government Gateway account linked to your business rather than an agent’s login, your EORI number, your Unique Taxpayer Reference, and your business address as HMRC holds it on record. Sole traders and individuals also need a National Insurance number.4GOV.UK. Subscribe to the Customs Declaration Service
Access usually comes through within two hours, or up to five working days if HMRC needs to run additional checks.4GOV.UK. Subscribe to the Customs Declaration Service Once you’re in, you can file through customs software that interfaces with CDS, manage a cash account for paying duties, and upload supporting documents.
The Information the Declaration Requires
A customs declaration pulls together several categories of data. Collecting all of it before you start filing prevents rejections and delays at the border.
Commodity Codes
Every item you import or export must be classified with a commodity code from the UK Trade Tariff. The code determines the duty rate and flags any restrictions or licensing requirements.5HM Revenue & Customs and HM Treasury. Reference Document for the Customs Tariff (Establishment) (EU Exit) Regulations 2020 Getting it wrong can mean overpaying duty, underpaying it and triggering penalties, or having goods held up while border officers sort out the discrepancy.
If you’re unsure which code fits your product, you can apply for an Advance Tariff Ruling for goods imported into or exported from Great Britain. HMRC responds within 30 to 120 days with a legally binding classification.6GOV.UK. Apply for an Advance Tariff Ruling For goods moving into or out of Northern Ireland or the EU, apply for a Binding Tariff Information decision through the EU Customs Trader Portal instead, with a similar 120-day turnaround.7GOV.UK. Apply for a Binding Tariff Information Decision Either ruling locks in the classification so you aren’t second-guessing it on every shipment.
Customs Value
Customs value is what your duty and VAT calculations are based on. It includes the purchase price of the goods plus the cost of shipping, insurance, and packing materials to get them to the UK border. VAT is then charged on the combined total of the goods’ value, delivery costs, and any duty owed.8GOV.UK. Tax and Customs for Goods Sent from Abroad The standard VAT rate is 20%, though some goods qualify for a reduced 5% rate or are zero-rated. Keep invoices for freight, insurance premiums, and packing charges — if HMRC queries the declared value, you’ll need to back up every figure.
Country of Origin
The country where goods were manufactured or substantially transformed determines their origin, and origin matters because trade agreements can reduce or eliminate tariffs. Under the UK-EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement, goods of UK or EU origin can enter the other party’s market at a zero or reduced tariff, but only if the commercial invoice includes a Statement on Origin with the prescribed wording and the exporter’s EORI number.
Getting origin wrong doesn’t just cost a tariff preference. It can trigger enforcement if HMRC suspects goods are being routed through a preferred country to dodge higher duties on their actual origin.
Commercial Invoice and Licences
Your commercial invoice feeds directly into the declaration. It should include the full names and addresses of exporter and importer, EORI numbers for both parties, a plain-language description of every item, the commodity code for each line, quantities with units of measure, unit and total values with the transaction currency, the agreed Incoterms, and freight and insurance costs listed separately from the goods’ value.
Some categories of goods require licences or certificates on top of the standard declaration. Firearms and ammunition need a special licence. Animals, animal products, plants, and plant products require sanitary or phytosanitary certificates. Items covered by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species — including certain leather goods, wooden instruments, and some medicines — need a CITES permit.9GOV.UK. Bringing Goods into the UK for Personal Use – Banned and Restricted Goods Chemicals, pharmaceuticals, and goods containing fluorinated gases also fall under licensing regimes. Check whether your commodity code triggers any licensing requirement before the goods ship. Discovering it at the border means storage fees and delays.
Submitting the Declaration
In practice, you enter the data into customs software — commodity code, EORI, value, origin, weights, package types, currency — and the software generates the electronic file that CDS accepts. HMRC’s guidance maps each required data element back to the numbered boxes of the old paper Single Administrative Document (Form C88) for anyone familiar with that format.10GOV.UK. Step-By-Step Guide, Step 2 – Understanding CDS Declaration Data The system validates the submission and flags any fields that don’t match expected formats.
You can pre-lodge a declaration before your goods physically reach the UK border.11HM Revenue and Customs. Customs Declarations End-to-End Service Guide – Glossary The filing sits pending until the vessel or vehicle arrives at the port, at which point it becomes an arrived declaration and clearance begins. Pre-lodging is worth doing whenever possible — it can shave hours or days off the time goods spend at the border.
Once goods are presented to customs, you have up to 90 days to submit a full declaration.12Legislation.gov.uk. Taxation (Cross-border Trade) Act 2018 – Schedule 1 Waiting anywhere near that long is impractical, though. Your goods would sit in temporary storage racking up charges. Most importers file within hours of arrival.
Simplified Procedures for Frequent Importers
If you import regularly, two authorised procedures reduce the paperwork at the border itself.
A Simplified Frontier Declaration lets you bring goods across with a reduced data set, then follow up with a full supplementary declaration later. HMRC authorisation is required before you use it, and certain goods — such as those entering under temporary admission carnet procedures — are excluded.13GOV.UK. Making a Simplified Frontier Declaration
Entry in the Declarant’s Records goes further. Instead of submitting even a simplified electronic declaration at the border, you record the import in your own commercial records and release the goods immediately. Your records must establish a full audit trail — storage, stock movements, delivery notes, and all notifications to customs — and HMRC’s supervising officer confirms exactly what your records need to contain when granting authorisation.14GOV.UK. Entry in the Declarant’s Records
Both routes require a supplementary declaration by the 10th calendar day of the month following the import.15GOV.UK. Making an Import Supplementary Declaration Miss that deadline and you face penalties.
Paying Duty and VAT
Once your declaration is accepted, any duty and import VAT owed must be paid before the goods are released. CDS offers several routes:
- A cash account, a prepaid balance held with HMRC that duties are drawn from automatically when declarations are processed. This replaced the old Flexible Accounting System, which closed permanently in October 2024.16GOV.UK. Use a Cash Account for Customs Declaration Service Declarations
- A duty deferment account, which lets you settle monthly instead of per-shipment. Useful for high-volume importers who would otherwise be making dozens of individual payments.
- Immediate payment by bank transfer (CHAPS, Faster Payments, or Bacs), online banking approval, or debit or corporate credit card.17GOV.UK. Pay for Imports Declared Using the Customs Declaration Service
- Postponed VAT accounting, where instead of paying import VAT at the border you account for it on your regular VAT return. This can significantly improve cash flow.
After You File: Clearance Routes
When CDS accepts your declaration, it generates a Movement Reference Number (MRN) that tracks the shipment through clearance.18GOV.UK. Create a Goods Movement Reference Keep it. You’ll need it for any correspondence with HMRC and for creating the goods movement reference required to move cargo through the border.
HMRC’s risk assessment system assigns each declaration a clearance route:
- Route 1 is a documentary check. You submit supporting paperwork — invoices, certificates, licence copies — to the National Clearance Hub for review before the goods are released.
- Route 2 is a physical examination. Officers inspect both the documents and the goods themselves. Containers may be opened and contents sampled.
- Route 6 is immediate release. No checks are required and the goods clear automatically.19GOV.UK. Import and National Clearance Hub Procedures – INCHP04200 – Outline of CHIEF Computer Facilities – Routes and Codes
Most routine commercial shipments land on Route 6. If yours doesn’t, respond promptly. Goods sitting at the port waiting for your documents or an inspection appointment generate storage charges that add up fast. Once duty and VAT are settled and any checks are completed, the goods are released for free circulation in the UK domestic market.
Correcting a Declaration After Filing
Errors happen. The correction process depends on whether you underpaid or overpaid.
If you underpaid duty or import VAT, use the C2001 voluntary clearance amendment process. For declarations filed through CDS, submit the correction online through HMRC’s “Tell HMRC about an underpayment” service. You’ll need the original MRN, the item and data element numbers, original and revised procedure codes, and the difference between amounts already paid and what’s actually owed. HMRC then issues a charge (C18) for the balance.20GOV.UK. Apply for a Voluntary Clearance Amendment (Underpayment) (C2001) One exception: if you used postponed VAT accounting on the original declaration, you correct the import VAT on your VAT return rather than through the C2001.
If you overpaid, apply for a repayment using Form C285.21GOV.UK. Amend or Cancel a Customs Declaration Service Import Declaration Voluntarily disclosing errors before HMRC discovers them is always the better move. It demonstrates good compliance behaviour and can influence how HMRC handles any associated penalty.
Records and Penalties
You must retain records for all declared goods for four years from the date the obligation to preserve them arises.22Legislation.gov.uk. The Customs Traders (Accounts and Records) Regulations 1995 That covers copies of every declaration (including supplementary declarations if you use simplified procedures), commercial invoices, freight and insurance documents, certificates of origin, licences, and any correspondence with HMRC. HMRC can audit customs-related documents going back four years and VAT records going back six, and in a criminal investigation records from the past ten years can be used as evidence, so keeping documents beyond the four-year minimum is prudent where storage allows.23GOV.UK. Archiving Your Trade Documents
HMRC issues civil penalties for declaration errors on a progressive scale. The minimum is £250 per contravention, escalating through £500 and £1,000 for repeat offences, up to a maximum of £2,500 per contravention for the most significant irregularities. If undeclared duty or import VAT exceeds £50,000, HMRC can start the penalty two steps higher, meaning £1,000 as a first penalty. Underdeclarations exceeding £100,000 can attract the maximum penalty immediately, regardless of whether it’s a first offence.
Errors become “serious” above certain thresholds. An incorrect declaration where underpaid duty or VAT exceeds £10,000 crosses into serious territory. For declarations delayed so that payment falls into a later accounting period, the threshold is £25,000. Errors affecting the physical control of goods, such as misclassifying restricted items, have no monetary threshold and are automatically serious.