How to make sure the correct duty is applied to goods you bring into Northern Ireland from countries outside of the EU and UK
Find out how to declare your goods so the correct duty is applied.
If youāre a business that brings goods into Northern Ireland from countries outside of both the EU and UK, you will need to provide declarations for those goods. You must make sure that you complete your declarations correctly so that the right tariff treatment is applied to the goods.
Whether duty is payable on the goods you bring into Northern Ireland from countries outside of both the EU and UK, and how much duty that is, will depend on:
- the applicable UK and EU rates of duty including where goods are subject to a preferential rate of duty under a free trade agreement or where goods are eligible for duty relief ā this is explained in the calculating applicable duty section of this guidance
- whether goods are āat riskā of onward movement to the EU (this is explained in the declaring goods ānot at riskā section of this guidance) ā if the goods you bring into Northern Ireland from outside of both the EU and UK are:
- āat riskā, then the applicable EU rate of duty will be due
- ānot at riskā, then the applicable UK duty will be due
- if youāre able to use customs special procedures to suspend, and in some cases get partial or full relief from import duty ā this is explained in the suspending duty through special procedures section of this guidance
Declaring goods ānot at riskā
If youāre moving goods into Northern Ireland from countries outside of both the EU and UK then you will either need to pay the applicable EU or UK rate of duty, depending on whether your goods are āat riskā or ānot at riskā.
Your goods will be āat riskā where the applicable EU rate of duty is more than the applicable UK duty and the difference is equal to or more than 3 percentage points. The applicable EU rate of duty will be due on these goods as they are automatically āat riskā.
Where your goods are not automatically āat riskā because of the applicable EU rate of duty, you may consider if you can declare these goods ānot at riskā under the UK Internal Market Scheme. To do this, you will need to:
- be authorised under the UK Internal Market Scheme
- make sure your goods meet the requirement to be declared ānot at riskā ā including additional requirements where goods are subject to processing in Northern Ireland
- make sure the goods are not subject to EU trade remedies, you can check the ā where goods are subject to EU trade remedies they cannot be declared ānot at riskā under the UK Internal Market Scheme
Once youāre authorised for the UK Internal Market Scheme, you should use the UK Internal Market Scheme authorisation for goods that you move on and after the date that youāre authorised.
You can declare your goods ānot at riskā where the UK duty is equal to or more than the applicable EU rate of duty. The UK duty will be due on these goods. You cannot declare goods that will be subject to processing in Northern Ireland as ānot at riskā, unless you meet the additional processing requirements for these goods.
If youāre completing an import supplementary declaration, you should use the authorisation you held at the time your goods were moved.
Calculating applicable duty
To calculate the applicable duty due on the goods you bring into Northern Ireland from countries outside of both the EU and UK, you must consider:
- the applicable EU tariff ā use the
- the applicable UK tariff ā use the
- whether the goods are subject to EU or UK trade remedies, you can check the Trade defence investigations section in the ā where goods are subject to they cannot be declared ānot at riskā under the UK Internal Market Scheme
- whether the goods meet rules of origin requirements to claim a preferential tariff under a Free Trade Agreement ā check your goods meet the rules of origin
- whether you can claim duty relief ā check if you can pay a reduced amount of Customs Duty
Claiming preference under a Free Trade Agreement
Where goods meet the relevant rules of origin requirements, the preferential rates under separate EU and UK free trade agreements with other countries should be used when calculating the applicable duty to decide if the goods are āat riskā or not. To do this, you must keep supporting evidence that your goods meet the requirements to claim the preferential rate. Evidence requirements will be different for each agreement. You can find general guidance in āget proof of origin for your goodsā.
If youāre bringing goods into Northern Ireland from a country that has a free trade agreement with the EU, you can claim a preferential rate if:
- your goods are āat riskā
- your goods meet the relevant rules of origin requirements for the EU agreement and you hold appropriate evidence
If youāre bringing goods into Northern Ireland from a country that has a free trade agreement with the UK, you can claim a preferential rate if your goods:
- are ānot at riskā
- meet the relevant rules of origin requirements for the UK agreement and you hold appropriate evidence
If you bring goods into Northern Ireland from a country that has a separate free trade agreement with both the UK and EU, the preferential rates should be used to calculate the duty, provided:
- the goods meet the rules of origin requirements under both agreements
- you hold supporting evidence
If the duty under both agreements is 0% then, subject to there being no other duty, measures or reliefs, including consideration of the āat riskā rules on goods subject to processing and trade remedies, the goods will be ānot at riskā and the UK preferential duty (0%) will be due.
If your goods are only able to meet the rules of origin requirements under the UK free trade agreement, then the applicable EU rate of duty will be at the Most Favoured Nation (MFN) rate.
Where the applicable EU rate of duty is:
- more than the applicable UK duty, and the difference is equal to or more than 3 percentage points, the goods will be automatically āat riskā and the applicable EU rate of duty will be due
- more than the applicable UK duty, but the difference is less than 3 percentage points, traders may consider if they meet the conditions to declare the goods ānot at riskā under the UK Internal Market Scheme
Suspending duty through special procedures
You may want to consider using customs special procedures to suspend the duty payment on the goods you bring into Northern Ireland where duty would otherwise be due. Special procedures can help with cashflow, by delaying or in some cases removing the need for duty payment, including where you:
- are not yet certain about the final destination of your goods
- will be processing or storing your goods before selling or re-exporting them
Find out more about customs special procedures in āpay less or no duty on goods you store, repair, process or temporarily useā.
You can declare goods ānot at riskā when they are declared into, and discharged from, special procedures subject to meeting the relevant conditions to declare goods ānot at riskā. If you declare your goods āat riskā on entry to the special procedure, this does not stop you from declaring them ānot at riskā when you declare them out of the procedure.
A financial guarantee is usually required while duty is suspended. If youāre able to declare your goods ānot at riskā on entry to the special procedure in Northern Ireland and UK duty has not been paid yet, your guarantee requirement will be at the UK rate of duty. If the goods are āat riskā, the guarantee requirement will be at the applicable EU rate of duty.
When discharging your goods from a special procedure into free circulation in Northern Ireland, youāll need to work out if your goods are āat riskā or ānot at riskā in the same way as you would at import. If:
- your goods are āat riskā when leaving the special procedure, the applicable EU rate of duty will be due in full
- youāre able to declare your goods ānot at riskā and UK duty has not yet been paid, then the applicable UK duty will be due in full
When discharging your goods from a special procedure, and not into free circulation in Northern Ireland, if you:
- export your goods to a country outside of both the EU and the UK, no duty will be due
- move your goods to free circulation in Great Britain, UK duty will be due
If youāre bringing goods into Northern Ireland for processing and do not meet the additional requirements to declare these goods ānot at riskā, the inward processing procedure may be useful. You can also check the additional requirements for goods subject to processing in ādeclaring goods you bring into Northern Ireland ānot at riskā of moving to the EUā. You can suspend duty while you process your goods and do not need to take into account the processing undertaken during the procedure when declaring goods ānot at riskā when you declare them out of the procedure.
If youāre not sure of the final destination of your goods when bringing them into Northern Ireland, the customs warehousing procedure may be useful. You can suspend duty while you store goods in the customs warehouse. When discharging goods from the procedure, you can declare those that are:
- destined for the EU, āat riskā
- staying in Northern Ireland, ānot at riskā, subject to meeting the other ānot at riskā requirements
Updates to this page
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You can no longer apply for authorisation under the UK Trader Scheme. You must register for the UK Internal Market Scheme.
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This page has been updated with information about how to declare goods into Northern Ireland from the rest of the world.