Worried about Customs post Brexit? Declaron is offering financial and practical help for January.

In our latest guest blog, our corporate partners Declaron offer financial and practical help for post-Brexit Customs this January.

Confusion amongst Irish businesses around Brexit continues, as the promised ‘deal or no deal’ clarity of Sunday’s discussions between the UK and EU failed to materialise.  This is, unfortunately, leading to further delays in businesses taking action – despite there being certainty on some very crucial business requirements and preparations.  Whether it’s going to be a hard or soft Brexit, one thing for 100% certain is that if importing or exporting between Ireland and the UK from January 1st, Irish businesses of all sizes will be required by Revenue to make customs declarations and have a customs agent represent them.

At Declaron – a new Irish startup launched by BDO and Fexco – we are trying to make things a bit easier on Irish businesses and encourage people to get ready before time runs out. So we are offering completely FREE declarations until February to those that register with us. We are also offering a lot of useful materials such as webinars, a practical self-assessment and actionable content like cost-benefit analysis in our insights hub. Customs is complicated and it can be hard to know just where to start – especially when the clock is running down like it – so we’d suggest beginning by bringing the following checklist of questions to your business and going from there –

• Have you agreed INCO terms (the roles and responsibilities) between you and your connected 3^rd parties, specifically who is responsible for creating and managing declarations and when? This will play a big part in understanding what you need to do next. We have a webinar about it if you need to know more, here.
• Do you have an EORI number set up? You should check the European Commission EORI Number Validator to ascertain if you already have an EORI number before you proceed further in this document. The default option will be “IE” followed by your VAT number.
• Do you plan to use a cash upfront (TAN account) or a deferred account method for payment of your duties? You can find out more about this if unsure here.
• Do you know the correct tariff classifications for your goods? You can check the EU and UK lists linked. We’ve also got a handy recorded webinar on tariffs here. Registered Declaron customers have access to a more detailed one during onboarding.
• Have you appointed a customs agent to act on your behalf, or taken the relevant steps to assess the financial impact and implemented the resource requirement of an in-house solution? You can find the relevant form here (although this can be done online via your Revenue account too). Details on how this would work with Declaron specifically are here.

More info on Declaron:

The business was specifically set up to address the lack of available agents in the Irish market, with a focus on ensuring compliance and the accurate completion of declarations. This minimises the risk of delays at ports and prevents the risk of audit later on. They support their customers by providing webinars, practical guides and educational initiatives focused on customs clearance requirements. They’re also offering free helpful information on their website for all Irish businesses.