More than 220,000 VAT-registered businesses are being contacted by HMRC to urge them to move to the UK’s new streamlined customs IT platform, if they’re not already using it.

To continue importing goods, businesses must use the Customs Declaration Service to make import declarations, after 30 September this year, although the old system will be available until March 2023.

The Customs Declaration Service will become the UK’s single customs platform after 31 March 2023, replacing CHIEF, the old Customs Handling Import and Export Freight system. After 31 March, businesses will have to use the Customs Declaration Service to make export declarations for goods they send out of the UK.

The Customs Declaration Service has been running since 2018 and should now be used for making import declarations when moving goods into the UK. HMRC said will ‘represent a significant upgrade by providing businesses with a more user-friendly, streamlined system that offers greater functionality’.

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