The Trader Support Service has issued an update for traders and guidance on how to sign up for the TSS.

The TSS process has three steps. The first two of these – submission of an ENS Safety & Security declaration and Simplified Frontier Declaration (SFD) – will have been completed by you or your carrier/haulier before the goods moved.

The final step in the process is called the supplementary declaration. For TSS to submit a Supplementary declaration on your behalf, you will need to provide TSS with further data.

New digital process
From mid-February, the TSS is introducing a new digital process for you to do this. We’re introducing this in a carefully controlled way, to make sure we can properly support you in starting to make these new declarations.

For goods moving from mid-February
If you are moving goods after we introduce the new digital service, you will need to submit your Supplementary declaration information to TSS by the fourth working day of the month following a goods movement – by 4 March for goods moved in February.

When your goods move, we will email you to tell you about the Supplementary declarations you need to submit. In some cases – where you are moving goods that don’t attract any duty, and are not controlled goods – you will be able to do that from the middle of February, to give you peace of mind ahead of the 4 March deadline, if you wish to do so.

For other goods – those where duty will need to be paid, and controlled goods such as alcohol or some food products – you will be able to submit your Supplementary declarations from the end of February.

In all cases, you’ll need to ensure you’ve submitted your Supplementary declaration by 4 March for goods that move during February.

For goods that moved before mid-February
For goods moved before we introduce the new supplementary declaration digital service, we will take a staged approach to submission of Supplementary declarations.

We will keep you informed about when you will be required to submit Supplementary declaration information into TSS for these movements. We will give you plenty of notice before we ask you to do this, so you should wait to hear from us before attempting to submit a Supplementary declaration for those goods. This helps us to ensure that the new service is working well, and that we can give you the right support and customs expertise to guide you through this process.

Not expected
You may be worried about the deadline for goods that moved in January, as normally HMRC would have expected the Supplementary declarations for those goods by 4 February. We’ve worked closely with HMRC on this approach and can confirm they are not expecting your Supplementary declarations until after the new service is delivered and we have invited you to submit in February the information for these declarations.

If you use the bulk upload API, you can expect us to publish specifications to inform your software development very soon and we will be reaching out to you to discuss.

Guidance now available
In following this timetable, you will have the time to prepare to submit Supplementary declarations.

It’s really important that you use that time well. To help you prepare for this important process, we have published new guidance – ‘Supplementary declarations – how to prepare’ – here on the NICTA portal link which outlines:

  • the goods movement information you need to retain
  • the new information you also need
  • where you can obtain this information.

This new guidance is in addition to the existing Supplementary declarations guide link on NICTA, covering the data required.

The declarant of record is responsible for completing the Supplementary declaration. Please refer to the guidance if you are unsure as to your role as declarant of record.

Steps to take
If you are the declarant, we suggest you follow the steps below, also detailed in the new guide mentioned above link, to ensure a smooth completion to the Supplementary declaration process:

  1. Record data required for a Supplementary declaration: keep a record of the movement of your goods, along with the data specific to those goods, for example a consignment of a specific type of lightbulb
  2. Determine the commodity codes for each of the goods that are moved
  3. Identify whether your goods are eligible for the preferential tariff: as a result of the UK-EU free trade deal, zero preferential tariffs are in place for originating goods moving from EU-UK or UK-EU. This also applies to goods from GB to NI.
  4. Apply for authorisation under the UK Trader Scheme and identify if your goods are ‘at risk’. There will be no duty payable on goods brought into NI from GB when those goods are not ‘at risk’ of moving to the EU.

We will be publishing more guidance over the coming weeks to further help and support you through this process.

Free webinar – Supplementary declarations process: how to prepare
As well as the guides mentioned above, we will be holding a short webinar at 3pm on Thursday 28 January to walk you through the steps you need to take to prepare for submitting Supplementary declarations.

It’s free to attend – you just need to sign up here to register for this webinar where you will learn:

  • What data is required for a Supplementary declaration
  • How to provide it to TSS
  • When the declaration needs to be completed by

A recording of this webinar will be uploaded to NICTA website shortly after the session finishes. You may also ask questions in advance when registering.

Regards,

Trader Support Service