Using a Customs Declaration Service cash account for duty and VAT payments

Find out what a Customs Declaration Service cash account is and how to use it on the Trader Support Service for goods movements to Northern Ireland.

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What is a Customs Declaration Service cash account

A Customs Declaration Service (CDS) cash account is a pre-paid account with HMRC. When you submit a customs declaration, you can pay any duty and VAT directly from this account.

If you are moving goods into Northern Ireland and declaring them through the Trader Support Service, you can use this payment method for full import declarations referred to as standard declarations in the Trader Support Service.

If you move goods to Northern Ireland using any other type of declaration, you’ll need to use a different payment method in the Trader Support Service.

Before you start

To use a Customs Declaration Service cash account, you must:

subscribe to the Customs Declaration Service
have a Customs Declaration Service cash account set up with HMRC – you get this automatically, once you get access to the Customs Declaration Service
have enough funds in the account before your goods arrive – you may have to pay into your Customs Declaration Service cash account
add the cash account as a payment method in your Trader Support Service business profile
authorise the Trader Support Service to use your cash account by giving it Authority within your CDS financial dashboard

If Authority has not been provided, the Trader Support Service will not be able to use your cash Account and your declaration may be rejected.

Adding your cash account to your business profile

From the menu in your Trader Support Service account select View Go to your Business profile
Go to the section CDS Cash Account
Under Account No, select Change and enter your cash account number, which you can find while managing your Customs Declaration Service accounts
Select Change under Use CDS account for Full Frontier Declarations? and indicate if you intend to use this method of payment in your full import declarations referred to as standard declarations in the Trader Support Service.
Under Will CDS be your primary way of paying?, select Change and indicate whether CDS will be your primary way of paying.

Authorise the Trader Support Service to use your cash account

The Trader Support Service can use your cash account to pay for any duties and VAT you owe. To do this, you’ll need to authorise the Trader Support Service in your CDS financial account.

Log in to your CDS financial dashboard to set up or view an authority on the Customs Declaration Service. You will need your Government Gateway user ID and password linked to your CDS-subscribed business.

In your customs dashboard, add a new account authority in the Account Authorities section by providing the Trader Support Service EORI number. You will need to raise a case or call the contact centre for help with this information.

Select the cash account, set the authority’s limits, and set the start date. Choose if it should be open-ended or for a defined period, specifying if the Trader Support Service can view balances or only use funds for customs declarations.

Review all details and submit. Your authority settings will update instantly.

Watch how to set up a standing authority on the Customs Declaration Service for visual guide of the authorisation process.

How to use a cash account in the Trader Support Service

Before your goods arrive, you’ll need to top up your CDS cash account. Make sure you allow enough time for the payment to reach HMRC and be allocated to your account:

up to 3 working days before arrival if paying by BACS
at least 2 working days before arrival when using Faster payments or other methods

When completing your full import declaration, select CDS cash account as your method of payment.

Once the duty calculation has been accepted, HMRC automatically deducts the customs charges from your CDS Cash account.

If there’s enough funds in your CDS cash account, you will not need to do anything else, and your goods movement can continue through the customs process.

Check your cash account regularly

It is your responsibility to make sure there are enough funds in your cash account before declarations are submitted.

If there are not enough funds:

HMRC cannot collect the duty
the Trader Support Service will notify you that payment has failed
your declaration may be delayed until the account has been topped up

See pay into your Customs Declaration Service cash account