DESPITE being introduced in January 2021, Steve Cross, a director of Cengroup, claims that many businesses are still unaware of the benefits that customs warehousing offers.
“Through storing goods in customs warehousing, cashflow benefits to SMEs importing for instance £1-2 million worth of goods per month could be substantial – especially now since Brexit, all goods imported from Europe are subject to customs clearance.
“A customs warehouse is essentially a space in which goods that are liable to import duty as well as VAT are stored.
“Storing goods in this way has multiple advantages for importers. Customs warehousing is advantageous for one simple reason: it preserves cashflow. By storing imported goods in a customs warehouse, duties VAT payments are deferred until the goods leave the warehouse.
“Equally, with no legislative requirement or need to pay duty and VAT on goods, if businesses re-export their goods or move goods to another customs procedure other than authorised use, then that duty would instead be paid in the country of destination. This would ultimately mean that double duty payments will be avoided entirely,” revealed Steve Cross.