New Service Provider

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A new provider of has been announced for the continued provision of the Trader Support Service (TSS) (www.tradersupportservice.co.uk, tel. 0800 060 8888), the outcome of a competitive procurement exercise run by His Majesty’s Revenue & Customs (HMRC) last year. The TSS supports businesses conducting trade between Great Britain (GB) and Northern Ireland (NI) through the facilitation of goods movement in accordance with the NI Protocol and Windsor Framework . Its newly appointed provider is Netcompany (see HERE) which will  be responsible for the development of the next, digital, phase of the portal.

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Netcompany, which reportedly has experience of delivering ICT systems for customs authorities in other European countries, is the prime contractor for the delivery of this next TSS phase, in collaboration with a number of partners, including the incumbent Chartered Institute of Export & International Trade. The TSS is to remain free to use and is to continue to operate more or less as it has been, with continued full access to all support, including educational materials and the call centre, for live queries.

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Customs informs that it will work closely with Netcompany and Fujitsu to ensure a smooth transition over the course of 2026. Which should include regular updates to TSS users and timely information on its transference to the new platform, as well as information regarding any action users may need to take. In the meantime, users should be able to continue to submit customs and safety and security declarations as usual. So their priority focus should be on compliance, as TSS declarations have become an area of renewed HMRC compliance concern.

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The Unique Position of Northern Ireland

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As part of the overall agreement for the United Kingdom’s withdrawal from the European Union (EU) it was agreed that part of its territory – NI, should remain both within the EU single market and the UK internal market (see above link to the NI Protocol, effective 1st January 2021) to which it would maintain its normal access. This was an imperfect solution to secure the main aim of there not having to be a physical border between NI and Eire, whilst enabling the implementation of customs and regulatory checks between Great Britain (GB) and NI to satisfy EU concerns. The TSS was a HMRC trade facilitation initiative to support the operational movement of goods between GB and NI. A necessary practical commitment to ease trade flows and mitigate the impact of the new trade framework post Brexit.

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HMRC Audits – TSS Declarations

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Customs seems to be stepping up compliance checks in relation to transactions involving the TSS, for example many companies will have recently received follow-up letters regarding historic customs declarations that remain outstanding. Declarations for which responsibility ultimately rests with the trader not the freight or customs agent used. This renewed emphasis on TSS user customs compliance is likely to mean that HMRC audits in this area become more frequent.

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So it is important that companies review their customs activity involving the movement of goods between GB and the island of Ireland, to ensure that, for example, customs declarations made through the TSS are correct / corrected and that due account has been taken of the rules governing consignments ‘at risk’ and ‘not at risk’ of movement into Eire (EU). Cont’d./

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Unexpected audits can mean unexpected costs. HMRC compliance checks can lead to assessments for additional duty(s) / tax(s) or indeed fines and/or additional compliance measures. Much better therefore to get ahead of this risk by gaining access to your customs declaration data (freely available from March) and if not already in place, embedding internal checking routines into your company’s standard operating procedures.

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How Can BKR Help?

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TSS declarations can be complex, time consuming and easy to complete incorrectly. BKR is able to support clients with these, and indeed other, submissions where required. We can help you take back control, by reviewing your TSS transactions and making sure that you are completing declarations correctly, paying only the duty(s) / tax(s) due.

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BKR can also check that you are making the most of any facilitations and simplifications that may be available to you, to enable you to trade more efficiently. As well as identify any duty / tax which may be due to you, as there can be opportunities to recover previously paid duty from HMRC through, for example, the duty drawback scheme.