Intrastat Reporting - What's changed since Brexit?
Intrastat returns enable UK and EU authorities to track trade between countries for statistical purposes and they’re also used to check on potential VAT fraud.
If you move goods between UK and the EU then Intrastat reporting may still be relevant for you.
Firstly, confirming some terminology as the devil is in the detail with some of this;
Great Britain (GB) = England, Wales & Scotland
United Kingdom (UK) = England, Wales, Scotland & Northern Ireland
Ireland = Northern Ireland & Republic of Ireland
British Isles = Great Britain & Ireland
It is still the case that non-VAT registered businesses do not need to register for Intrastat.
Importing
Since Brexit you still need to register for Intrastat if you import more than £1.5million worth of goods annually from the EU into the UK (England, Wales, Scotland & Northern Ireland).
Exporting
Since Brexit, you will only need to register for Intrastat if you export more than £250,000 worth of goods annually from Northern Ireland to the EU. You now don’t need to submit Intrastat declarations for goods exported from GB (England, Wales & Scotland) to the EU.
And if that’s sounding a bit tricky to get your head round, try this decision tree to walk yourself through it:
So, what counts towards the value thresholds?
You need to count the value of goods that are:
Bought or sold
Hired, loaned or leases
Supplied as part of a contract for services
Supplied free of charge
Moved in or out of the UK to be used in construction
Transferred between branches of your business
Processed
Moved out of the UK, then lost or destroyed
Exceptions:
Temporary exports
Services
So if you’ve worked out that Intrastat reporting is relevant for you, the link to register is here: https://www.gov.uk/intrastat and going forward you will need to make monthly declarations.
So, what exactly is an Intrastat return?
You will need to allocate each of your products a commodity code, this is a numeric description which classifies your goods. In my experience a helpful way of doing this is to create a record for the commodity code alongside your own internal product code. You can look up commodity codes here: https://www.trade-tariff.service.gov.uk/find_commodity
Then you need to report the monthly movement of goods by commodity code either by filling in an online form or by uploading a CSV file. You must submit your declaration within 21 days of the end of the month and if you have no trade to report in that month you should submit a nil return.
I hope that has helped de-mystify Intrastat reporting in the new post Brexit world, and if you would like to discuss Intrastat reporting feel free to get in touch.