What can you do to reduce your risk of fines due to non-compliance? As an importer and/or exporter of record, company directors are responsible for understanding and maintaining compliance within their organization. Not an easy challenge when there are so many new regulations being introduced at pace!
When an HMRC audit is conducted and if you are found to be non-compliant, from HMRC’s “Civil Penalties for Contraventions of Customs Law” (Notice 301 / Customs Civil Penalties regime) the maximum penalty under this regime is generally £2,500 per contravention.
Penalties escalate based on repeated contraventions, seriousness or whether there was a warning letter given before, or the trader has history of non-compliance.
When the behaviour is more severe, involving dishonesty or evasion HMRC can impose a civil evasion penalty equal to the amount of duty or tax evaded (or sought to be evaded). This can be reduced if the offender co-operates, discloses voluntarily.
Your company may be flagged as non-compliant, which could cause delays at the customs border and making it difficult to apply for customs authorisations in the future.
In criminal cases, there can be much more serious penalties: potentially unlimited fines, or prison.
The Coventry and Warwickshire Chamber of Commerce, in conjunction with the Sheffield International Trade Centre (SITC) has been conducting customs compliance audits on companies for several years. We provide detailed insights into what you may be doing that is non-compliant, how to correct it, and, crucially, why these changes are needed. This approach ensures everyone involved gains a deeper understanding of how HMRC expects compliant companies to operate and the documentation you must retain and archive.
Nobody wants to get caught short by HMRC and it seems from my experience their biggest objection is companies who do not know their responsibilities as an exporter or importer, however if you do, and you are correcting issues from the past, they will assist rather than hinder.
The audit, including the outcome is confidential and bespoke to your companies’ activities. We will discuss in detail your importing and exporting profile, testing you on your knowledge of global customs compliance and addressing each stage of the process as we progress.
The objective is to gain a thorough understanding of your company's activities, allowing us to improve your working practices, give you a deep understanding of customs compliance, set up your systems to be efficient and cost effective, potentially saving thousands of pounds.
During the process we always consider if any customs authorisations can be used that could save tens of thousands of pounds if the authorisation is awarded.
We will write and deliver a very comprehensive report detailing everything discussed which will become a template for standard operating procedures and a crucial reference for existing and new employees.
Nick Patrick
Director of the Sheffield International; Trade Centre and Advisor to Coventry & Warwickshire Chamber of Commerce
