Brexit actions: check your preparations against this checklist

We’ve all seen the Government’s campaign to encourage businesses to be ready for the changes in EU trading arrangements on Jan 1st. But, are you sure your business is completely ready?
We’ve put together a checklist of the jobs most businesses will need to do. We hope it’s useful for you.
We’ll be following up this post with more detail, so look out for further updates.

Checklist: declarations for goods that travel between the UK and the EU

1. Define who will be Importer/Exporter of record in UK, needing an EORI starting with GB
2. Define who will be Importer/Exporter of record in EU27, needing an EORI starting with NL, FR, DE, ES etc.
3. Appoint an Agent/Customs Intermediary in UK, to submit the Import/Export Declaration
4. Appoint an Agent/Customs Intermediary in EU27, to do corresponding Export/Import Declaration
5. Ensure that data required for customs declarations is available before the goods leave warehouse
6. Ensure the accuracy of the data, check compliance on import declarations
7. Ensure the accuracy of the data entered on export declarations and check compliance for VAT zero rating
8. Define and capture the declaration process with forwarder to pre-lodge export declarations, get P2P status for all exports and link the MRN to the GVMS in an SOP
9. Define Inco Terms with customers and suppliers
10. Review classification: UK will use the UK Global Tariff
11. Review classification: EU will use the Common External Tariff, current rates are listed next to the UKGT
12. Decide whether use Postponed VAT Accounting for import VAT from 1st Jan.
13. Understand changes for movements to Northern Ireland (NI) and register for TSS
14. Register for Goods Vehicle Movement System (GVMS) when available through Government Gateway
15. Continue to submit Intrastat arrivals, if you meet the threshold for arrivals after 1 Jan 2021 you will be required to submit for 12 months
    

If you can put a tick next to all fifteen items, congratulations on a high level of preparation. If not, our advice is that, if you can work through these tasks, your business will be well prepared for the new trade environment starting in just a few weeks.