Policy & Compliance
How to go about verifying establishment
B IFA has frequently issued guidance to Members on the twin issues of Customs representation and establishment when submitting Customs declarations for overseas based traders to HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC). Usually when focusing on these twin, but closely related, subjects we focus on the question of Customs representation and empowerment – however, in this article equal precedence is given to the issue of ‘establishment’. The Taxation (Cross-Border Trade) Act 2018 (TCTA 2018) uses subtly different language from the Union Customs Code that it replaced. The term ‘Customs Representative’ is now replaced by ‘The Customs Agent’ although the concept remains largely the same. From our Members’ viewpoint, the most important clause of the Act is Section 21 Customs Agents where it is stated: 21 (1) A person (the principal) may appoint any other person (a Customs agent) to act on the principal’s behalf for the purposes of this part, and a) The agent may make Customs declarations in the name of the principal (and in that case the agent acts as a direct agent) or b) The agent may make Customs declarations in the agent’s own name (and in this case the agent acts as an indirect agent)
Beware of the quality of data when checking whether a company is ‘established’ in the UK
12 | May 2023
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