Avalara’s Brexit VAT & Customs checklist provides a list of basic actions to tick off to ensure your shipments are not stopped at customs, taxes are kept to a minimum and you stay off the tax authorities' radar. They’ve also put together a guide on how to manage the VAT and customs risk within their Brexit Information Hub.

Businesses will now have to think about customs issues, such as who will be the importer of record? Who will be responsible for import declarations and taxes? This could be left to the customer, but they are unlikely to buy or re-buy since it is a bad experience (customs; import VAT).

Or if companies have a UK and an EU EORI number? Businesses will now need a GB and EU EORI number for customs declarations to move goods into UK / EU customs and correspondence and rulings from UK / EU customs

Avalara further ask within their insightful checklist, how will companies do customs declarations? This is needed for freight forwarder and customs clearance and a freight forwarder/customs agent can complete it.

Plus, what commodity code will businesses have? This should be a standard product code (8-digits for EU; 6-digits for UK) as it's needed for customs declaration and any tariff calculation.

Additionally, businesses will have to think about VAT issues, like deferred import VAT payments, UK businesses with an EU VAT registration needing a Fiscal Rep or companies selling UK stocks to EU consumers might need extra VAT registrations through using distance selling thresholds.

Read the full article and see the full checklist, plus much more in the Brexit Information Hub

You can hear more on these topics as part of the Cross Border and international Growth theme at the March 2021 Virtual event, where Richard Asquith, VP and expert in Global Indirect Tax at Avalara, will be speaking.

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