Using the Trader Support Service as an agent or intermediary

Find out what steps you need to take to set up an agent or intermediary account to represent traders when completing declarations on the Trader Support Service

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Use this guidance if you are an agent or intermediary and want to set up your Trader Support Service account so that you can complete declarations for your customers.

If you are a trader, follow the instructions in the Actions for traders section of this guide.

Types of profiles in the Trader Support Service

You can use the Trader Support Service to complete and submit information to HMRC as a:

trader - manage and complete declarations yourself
agent or intermediary - be authorised to manage and complete declarations for traders who are registered with the Trader Support Service

Agents or intermediaries are professional customs agents with a commercial agreement to act for another business or individual, known as their direct or indirect representative. See how someone can deal with customs for you

How to represent a company

As an agent or intermediary contracted to act on behalf of a trader, you need to tell the service which trader you want to represent.

Ensure the trader contracting you has previously authorised your company in their Trader Support Service account.
In your business profile, select the company you want to represent
You can proceed to manage the creation, completion and submission of information on behalf the trader selected
Stop representing the trader when you finish.

Managing information on behalf of traders

When you are representing a trader you can create, edit, complete and submit information on behalf of the selected trader.

Once you’ve selected a company to start representing, you can then:

Start new declarations
View your draft declarations
Complete your supplementary declarations

Making payments on behalf of traders

You can also make payments on behalf of a trader.

Once you have selected a company to represent from your business profile, you can then find any declarations that have pending payments.

Find out more about how to make a payment in the Trader Support Service.

Get help to complete information on behalf of traders

When you are representing a trader, there is guidance on completing declarations available in the Trader Support Service.

You can also make an enquiry by opening a support case.

Managing a trader’s support case

When you are representing a trader in the service, you can create or follow up on a support case.

Make sure you are representing a trader in the service.

In the management of support cases section you can also:

Close support cases
Add a message to an open case

Actions for traders

Before you authorise an agent or intermediary to represent your company, the administrator of your Trader Support Service account must make sure that:

your agent or intermediary is registered with the Trader Support Service
you have the correct EORI number of your agent or intermediary

Only the account administrator can complete the authorisation process to allow agents or intermediaries to act on their behalf when using the Trader Support Service.

Authorising agents or intermediaries to represent your company

As a trader using an agent or intermediary to act on your behalf on the Trader Support Service, you need to authorise them in your company profile.

In your company profile, you can view a list of businesses that can represent you.

If the agent you want to use is not listed, you can add them. You will need the agent’s EORI number to do this.

You can also remove authorised agents from your account by deleting them in your company profile.