North & Western Lancashire Chamber of Commerce has launched a new service delivering Customs Declarations for business across the region.
ChamberCustoms offers professional documentation services for UK importers and exporters, of all sizes across Lancashire.
The service is offered directly to businesses and through UK freight forwarders, ensuring that customs clearance is accurate, timely and avoids additional costs through delays or errors.
HM Revenue and Customs require exporters to demonstrate documentary compliance with security and customs regimes, even if they choose to outsource the shipping function to agents or forwarders or delegate logistics to the buyer under ex-works terms or similar.
Non-compliance risks delays in the supply chain and the possibility of financial penalty. Many non-compliances are errors or mistakes often caused by lack of awareness, understanding or by trying to short-cut procedures to save time and/or money.
Companies can be held responsible for errors on import and export declarations made to customs for a period of three years. With the introduction of the Finance Act provisions on Senior Accounting Officers and the upcoming integration of the Authorised Economic Operator (AEO) system the customs audit takes on even more significance than it did before.
HMRC are putting more responsibilities on traders and intend to run stricter audits with the hope of rating companies as “compliant” so they can concentrate on non-compliant companies
Thanks to the trusted, on-going relationship, the British Chambers of Commerce network has with HMRC and the extensive knowledge and reputation NWLCC has, they can be relied upon to provide the highest level of compliance and assurance for their customers.
HMRC is also urging business owners to make sure they are ready for a no deal Brexit. As part of their preparation businesses should consider how they want to make customs declarations. HMRC has identified 145,000 VAT registered companies that trade with the EU but not the rest of the world and estimates that a further 95,000 businesses also trade with the EU but are not VAT registered.
This means an estimated 240,000 businesses need to take action to continue trading with the EU if no deal is reached. The additional services and expertise offered by NWLCC will help businesses cope with the changes.
ChamberCustoms has direct links to the HMRC Customs handling system and all inventory linked ports. They are the only customs intermediary in the UK to have the badges for all ports in the UK. This means that no matter where they enter or leave the UL, they will be cleared for transportation smoothly.
Babs Murphy, CEO of NWL Chamber of Commerce said: “The Chamber’s International Trade team is already proven in delivering accurate and compliant export documentation, so providing Customs Declarations service feels like a natural next step. With a growing demand for customs documentation and greater emphasis from HMRC on compliance, the Chamber is ideally placed to support Lancashire businesses.”
