Reducing customs duty on goods moved into Northern Ireland

Find out what options are available to reduce or pay no customs duty when moving goods into Northern Ireland, and how to apply them in your customs declaration.

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Use this guide if you are a trader moving goods from Great Britain, or the rest of the world, excluding the EU into Northern Ireland to find out options available to reduce, remove or delay customs duty

You may be able to reduce or remove customs duty when you move goods:

from Great Britain (England, Scotland and Wales) to Northern Ireland, or
from the rest of the world (excluding the EU) to Northern Ireland

Different options are available to reduce or remove customs duty, depending on:

the risk status of your goods
where the goods are coming from
which tariff applies (EU or UK)
whether specific conditions are met

If none of the options below apply to your goods, the full duty rate will be due.

Find out more about moving ‘not at risk’ goods into Northern Ireland (opens in a new tab) and how to bring goods into Northern Ireland from Great Britain without paying duty (opens in a new tab).

Options to reduce, remove or delay customs duty

You may be able to reduce, suspend or pay no customs duty using one or more of the following options:

the UK Internal Market Scheme (UKIMS)
claiming preference under the UK–EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA)
claiming preference under UK trade agreements
using customs special procedures and reliefs
a customs duty waiver (de minimis aid)

Each option works differently and has specific conditions you must meet.

Use the UK Internal Market Scheme (UKIMS)

The UK Internal Market Scheme (UKIMS) is an authorisation that lets you declare eligible goods as ‘not at risk’ when moving them from Great Britain to Northern Ireland. Where goods are ‘not at risk’, EU customs duty does not apply.

To qualify, goods must be brought for sale or final use by end consumers into Northern Ireland or Great Britain.

For goods moving into Northern Ireland from the rest of the world (outside of EU) that are declared ‘not at risk’ , UK customs duty applies instead of EU duty.

Find out more about Internal Market Movements (opens in a new tab) and how to apply for the UK Internal Market Scheme authorisation (opens in a new tab)

Learn how to Upload your UKIMS authorisation in the Trader Support Service.

You may still be able to declare goods as ‘not at risk’ without a UKIMS authorisation when the applicable EU rate of duty is zero. Refer to declaring goods not at risk (opens in a new tab) guidance for more information.

Reduce EU duty using the UK–EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA)

You can benefit from zero customs duty on eligible goods when moving to Northern Ireland under the Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA) (opens in a new tab).

When you use a trade agreement to reduce or remove duties on your movement, this is known as claiming preference.

You may be able to claim preference if:

your goods originate in the UK by meeting the rules of origin requirements under the agreement
your goods are in free circulation
you hold valid evidence of UK origin to support the claim

Goods in free circulation mean that all import duties, VAT, and excise duties have been paid. Declaring goods into free circulation does not mean they are UK originating. Goods must meet the rules of origin under the TCA to qualify for preference.

Understanding rules of origin

You will need to understand the rules of origin (opens in a new tab) to be able to use this agreement.

Origin refers to the country where goods are made or produced. Goods are considered UK originating under the UK–EU TCA if they are wholly obtained, or produced exclusively from originating materials, or sufficiently worked or processed in the UK.

Find out more about how goods qualify as originating (opens in a new tab).

Use the Northern Ireland Online Tariff to find the Rules of Origin

The Northern Ireland Online Tariff can help you to identify the rules of origin that apply to a specific commodity code under the UK–EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA).

See the following example:

goods: Live trout (including Oncorhynchus mykiss), weighing 1.2kg or less
movement: Great Britain (free circulation) to Northern Ireland (at risk)
commodity code: 0301919011

How to check the rules of origin

Go to the Northern Ireland Online Tariff.
Enter the commodity code and the date of movement.
Select Search for a commodity, and click on the selected commodity
Under ‘Select a country’, select any EU Member State.
Select the origin tab.
Review the preferential rules of origin

Learn about the UK-EU TCA Rules of Origin (opens in a new tab) and understand product specific rules (opens in a new tab) on GOV.UK

How to claim preference under the UK–EU TCA in the Trader Support Service

To claim preference on your declaration:

select the correct preference code (opens in a new tab) (for example 300)
complete origin fields
include appropriate document references (U116, U117, U118)
use correct document status codes (opens in a new tab)

How to reduce UK customs duty on ‘not at risk’ goods from the rest of the world

For goods moved into Northern Ireland from outside of the United Kingdom or the EU declared as ‘not at risk’ UK customs duty applies rather than EU duty.

You can claim preference if your goods meet all of the following conditions:

goods are moved directly from a non‑EU country to Northern Ireland
there is a trade agreement between that country and the UK
goods meet the rules of origin set out in the trade agreement
you hold evidence to prove the origin of the goods (opens in a new tab)

Find about preferential duty rates and rules of origin (opens in a new tab).

UK trade agreements

The UK has the following types of trade agreements:

bilateral: between the UK and another country
multilateral: between the UK and a group of nations
unilateral schemes, such as the Developing Countries Trading Scheme (DCTS) (opens in a new tab) where the UK grants preference to developing countries

Find what trade agreements are in place (opens in a new tab) on GOV.UK

How to claim UK preference in your declaration

To claim UK preference under a UK trade agreement, complete the following steps for each goods item.

To claim preference on your declaration:

select the correct preference code (opens in a new tab)
complete origin fields
include appropriate document references (opens in a new tab)
use correct document status codes (opens in a new tab)

Customs special procedures and reliefs

You may be able to reduce, suspend or delay Customs Duty, import VAT and excise duty by either:

using a customs special procedure, or
claiming a customs relief

Customs special procedures

Customs special procedures allow you to suspend or defer the payment of duty and VAT if you meet certain conditions.

Examples of special procedures include:

Inward processing
Customs warehousing
Temporary admission
End-use procedure

Find out more about suspending duty through special procedures (opens in a new tab) and how to use them (opens in a new tab).

How to use a customs special procedure

You need to use the appropriate 4-digit procedure code which identifies the procedure the goods are being entered to.

See the list of procedure codes available for a customs declaration (opens in a new tab) and their instructions for using the procedure code.

Customs reliefs

Customs reliefs allow you to reduce or remove the amount of duty and/or import VAT due on import, when specific conditions are met.

Examples of goods reliefs include:

Returned goods relief (opens in a new tab) allows goods that have been previously exported to be re-imported without payment of duty, subject to conditions
Onward Supply Relief (opens in a new tab) is a VAT simplification for goods imported into Northern Ireland and immediately supplied onward to an EU VAT registered customer, allowing import VAT to be declared on the EU VAT return instead of paid at import.

How to use a customs relief

To claim a relief, you must:

declare the goods using the appropriate Procedure Code (opens in a new tab) to identify the customs procedure the goods are entering,
include the specific Additional Procedure code (opens in a new tab) linked to the procedure to be able to claim the relief

Additional Procedure Codes are 3-digit codes used with the Procedure code, used to claim a relief or apply a specific treatment.

Duty reliefs using C-series additional procedure codes

There are other additional procedure codes that may also provide relief for customs duties dependent on the circumstances of your movement.

These include the ‘Additional Procedure Code C-Series codes’ (opens in a new tab) used for certain relief claims.

For example, if you are moving samples of low value that are imported into Northern Ireland for trade promotion purposes you can use code C30 for claiming relief of customs duty. You must ensure you meet the conditions to use this additional procedure code.

If your goods are ‘at risk’ and no relief applies, EU customs duty is due and must be paid on the declaration.

Use a customs duty waiver (de minimis aid)

You can claim a duty waiver (opens in a new tab) so you do not have to pay duty on goods you bring into Northern Ireland from Great Britain or countries outside the EU.

It may be a suitable option if you:

move low volumes of goods into Northern Ireland
are not eligible for UK Internal Market Scheme authorisation (opens in a new tab)
cannot meet rules of origin requirements (opens in a new tab)
cannot demonstrate that goods are ‘not at risk’
know that goods are ‘at risk’ of entering the EU

For small businesses, this can be a practical way to reduce duty costs without needing an UKIMS authorisation.

The waiver is provided under de minimis state aid rules, and is subject to a maximum allowance of €300,000, depending on the business sector.

Check the conditions for claiming a duty waiver (opens in a new tab) including sector specific limits and how to calculate your allowance.

Find information on how to claim a duty waiver.

Reducing duty after submitting a declaration (Pending Payment)

When you submit a declaration in the Trader support Service, it will show as Pending Payment if duty is owed.

If you realise that you could have used a duty relief before submitting it, you can amend the declaration.

If the declaration is in Pending Payment status, you may return it to Draft to amend it before resubmitting.

Once a declaration reaches Closed status, it cannot be recalled.

Preference mismatch

A preference mismatch may happen where either the United Kingdom or EU tariff may apply to the same goods in Northern Ireland.

This can happen when:

goods are imported directly into Northern Ireland from the rest of the world
goods are moved from Great Britain into Northern Ireland that were not in free circulation in Great Britain

A mismatch occurs where a preferential rate is available under one tariff but not the other.

Find about this on the EUPRF – Preference mismatch on Northern Ireland declarations (opens in a new tab) guide.