Transit is a customs procedure that can help businesses move goods between:
- the UK;
- the EU; and
- other Common Transit Convention countries.
Goods can be moved under transit by air, rail, road or sea.
Using transit can help a business:
- move goods quickly; and
- reduce the number of customs declarations a business will need to complete.
When moving goods under transit a business can delay:
- completing customs declarations on goods until they end their transit movement; and
- paying customs duties and other charges on the goods until they end their transit movement.
This is because:
- customs declarations and duties are not required at each border crossing as the goods are under duty suspense;
- some customs processes can be completed away from the border at either:
- an office of departure or destination; or
- the businesses own premises, if it is an authorised consignor or consignee.
HMRC have published guidance entitled Apply to add a location to a consignor or consignee authorisation. This will enable a taxpayer to get permission from HMRC to use a new location to start or end transit movements – https://www.gov.uk/guidance/apply-to-add-a-location-to-a-consignor-or-consignee-authorisation.
HMRC have published guidance explaining how to set up a business to move goods out of Great Britain or Northern Ireland to Common Transit Convention countries:
- Set up your business to move goods out of the UK using transit;
- Preparing to move your goods out of Great Britain using transit;
- Preparing to move your goods out of Northern Ireland using transit;
- Moving goods out of Great Britain using transit: step by step;
- Moving goods out of Northern Ireland using transit: step by step;
- Transporting goods out of the UK under transit: step by step;
- Importing goods into the UK using transit;
- Transporting goods into the UK under transit: step by step; and
- Starting and ending transit movements in Northern Ireland.
HMRC have updated their guidance Check if you can use transit to move goods to the EU and Common Transit Convention countries, a list of countries in the Common Transit Convention has been added. Guidance on Union goods, non-Union goods and duty suspense has been moved to “Preparing to move your goods out of Great Britain using transit” and “Preparing to move your goods out of Northern Ireland using transit”. The section covering “Types of transit procedure” has been removed – see https://www.gov.uk/guidance/check-if-you-can-use-transit-to-move-goods-to-the-eu-and-common-transit-countries.