UK Outlines Procedures for Importing and Exporting Excise Goods With EU After Brexit
The United Kingdom’s HM Revenue & Customs on Oct. 10 issued new guidance documents outlining procedures for importing and exporting excise goods between the U.K. and the European Union after Brexit. “After Brexit, imports of excise goods from the EU will be treated the same as imports from the rest of the world. This includes moving imported excise goods within the UK,” the guidance said. The Simplified Accompanying Administrative Document (SAAD) and EU distance-selling arrangements will no longer be used, and a customs declaration will have to be completed, though a full declaration may not be necessary if transitional simplified procedures are used, it said.
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For excise goods already under movement at the time Brexit occurs, no full customs declaration or duty apply as long as it can be documented through certain forms outlined in the guidance that the goods were shipped before Brexit.
For such shipments, once the goods arrive in the U.K., the Excise Movement and Control System (EMCS) may not be used to create reports of receipt and the movement will remain open in the system. As such, the filer will need to provide a paper document to HMRC that includes the same information as an EMCS report of receipt.
Likewise, “after Brexit, exports of excise goods from the UK to the EU will be treated the same as exports to the rest of the world. This includes moving excise goods to a place of export in the UK,” the second guidance says.
An export declaration will have to be filed for excise duty paid goods, and businesses may be able to claim excise duty drawback on the exports. For duty suspended goods, EMCS may no longer be used to move excise goods from the U.K. to the EU, and the U.K. will no longer allow exporters to raise a movement on EMCS to an EU member state from Oct. 24, 2019.
Excise goods already under movement for export at the time of Brexit will also be treated as they would have been under the previous scheme, so long as proof can be submitted that the goods were shipped before Brexit. For these goods, the exporter will have to “provide an alternative proof of receipt” upon arrival in the EU, given that EMCS will no longer be available.