Reviewing Brexit: customs compliance and audit for UK importers workshop - new date

We’re holding a series of international trade workshops for Sandwell businesses. Join us for the fifth one at our Sandwell Start-Up Hub. Please note that the date has changed from Thursday 22 February to Friday 22 March.

We (the Sandwell Business Growth Team) are holding a series of international trade workshops covering:

• How to improve your import, export and customs procedures
• Ambition to export: mapping and accessing new markets
• Cutting costs and improving productivity through customs
• Reviewing Brexit: customs compliance and audit for UK importers.

The fifth workshop in the series takes place on Friday 22 March (new date!) at Jack Judge House in Oldbury. It’s called ‘Reviewing Brexit: Customs compliance and audit for UK importers’.

We (the Sandwell Business Growth team) are hosting the workshop and experts from Falsum Consulting Ltd will deliver the session. It’s a whole-day event – from 9.30am to 4.30pm – that will review Brexit for UK importers.

As HMRC is putting more responsibility on traders and expects greater awareness and compliance within companies, this workshop uncovers how companies can self-audit to remain compliant.

It provides a practical guide to understand origin and preference, classification, valuation and how to read customs entries. 

Knowing what information HMRC will want to look at during an audit is critical to a successful audit. Attendees will learn what HMRC considers the essential areas of a customs audit and how to react when you are under the spotlight.

It will also cover customs special procedures and provide detailed information on what each of the procedures is and what HMRC looks for. Within this section, you will look at authorised economic operator (AEO), the benefits and pitfalls of using AEO, and how a customs audit on an AEO trader could have serious consequences when being audited, such as:

• Customs audits – what are they? 
• Meeting AEO conditions
• Understanding your responsibilities
• Record keeping requirements: Imports, exports and EU trade
• Writing procedures, internal guidelines and self-auditing 

The workshop will also cover topics such as:

• Planning for an audit – providing company information to the auditor 
• Who should lead the audit? 
• Management support and awareness
• Responsibilities of freight companies
•  VAT evidence of export
• Classification of goods
• Valuation issues
• Preference at export and import
• Intra-community Trade Statistics (INTRASTAT) linking physical movement of goods within the EU to VAT returns
• Special customs procedures IP, OP, CW, EnU, TA and AEO conditions. 

This workshop will be ideal for compliance managers, finance leaders, business heads and logistics management.