Customs Declaration Service - supported by QuickFile?

I sometimes buy goods and services from overseas (China, Canada etc) and pay import VAT on them which I then reclaim via my quarterly VAT submission via QuickFile. My company has an EORI and I get sent the occasional C79 from HMRC which supports this.
HMRC have written to me saying that I need to move to the “Customs Declaration Service” and when logged in, the HRMC website says that I already have access to this. HMRCs website also has a list of software that can manage this but QuickFile isn’t in the list.

Is this something that QuickFile can do or will do in the future? Or do I need to invest in different software? I am totally unclear what I am expecting this to do for me.

Hello @Magicbean

Sorry for the late reply (I was waiting to hear back from the development team about this)

Currently QuickFile does not support this, it may happen but not in the near future.

You would have to do this via HMRC’s systems (link below)

Hi @QFSteve ,
Thanks for your answer. I have found that my company is already subscribed but that doesn’t actually do anything other than allow other software to do whatever it has to do (create the customs declarations??).

I wonder if this is something that I don’t need to do - perhaps it’s the couriers that actually do the importing that need to use the Customs Declaration Service. All I want to do is to continue to be able to reclaim the import VAT and it is as clear as mud whether it affects me or not. I don’t actually import the goods, Fedex, DHL etc do the importing and I pay the supplier up front (DDP) or the courier when they sent a request for payment before delivery.

With hindsight, I think I should have asked whether reclaiming the import VAT via QuickFile using the Reverse Charge flag is going to continue to work?

Hello @Magicbean

Your accountant would probably be bets suited to answer queries such as these as we are not registered accountants nor bookkeepers.

Hi @QFSteve,
Ok thanks.

You can now use something called “Postponed VAT Accounting” which means that you wouldn’t have to pay import VAT on the point of entry of the goods. Rather you “postpone” the VAT until you submit your quarterly VAT return, at which point you pay and reclaim import VAT on the value of goods imported in the quarter - net effect nil. This is better for cashflow as in the “old days” you would pay import VAT up front and then reclaim it on your VAT return some months later, on receipt of the C79. Now you can effectively do both in one go on the return.

In order to do this, you sign up for the CDS, and then each month download your postponed VAT statements from the website. The values from the statements are then entered in your VAT return.

You will need to notify your shipping agents that you wish to use Postponed VAT accounting.

Note that you do not need a deferment account. Some agents like you to use their deferment account, but they will charge for this service and it should be unnecessary.

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