Guidance

Customs and international trade — CC/FS1g

Updated 17 June 2025

General information about compliance checks into customs and international trade matters

This factsheet tells you about compliance checks into customs and international trade matters.

A compliance check allows us to check that all matters relating to customs and international trade are correct. This includes making sure you’re paying the right amount of tax. If you’ve paid too much, we’ll help you get a refund. If you’ve paid too little, we’ll help you put it right.

We carry out some types of checks over the phone. If you’d prefer us to write to you instead, you can ask us to do this if we call you. We may ask you to give us information or documents to help with the check.

This factsheet is one of a series. For the full list, go to GOV.UK and search ‘HMRC compliance checks factsheets’.

About a customs pre-clearance check

We carry out pre-clearance checks to make sure all matters that relate to your customs declarations are correct before we clear the goods for release.

These checks may include:

• an examination of your declaration and supporting documents
• an examination of the goods
• sampling of the goods

If we need to follow up these checks with any post-clearance checks, we may visit your business or premises.

During a pre-clearance check we may:

• ask questions about the type of representation being used
• ask questions about various aspects of the declaration or the goods
• examine any records that relate to the declaration
• take details from the declaration and documents
• take samples to help classify and identify the goods
• mark goods, documents or items to show we’ve inspected them
• ask for your help when carrying out a physical inspection
• detain or seize goods found to be held contrary to customs law

Goods may also be checked by other government departments.

If we consider a financial guarantee is due that relates to your declaration, you’ll need to pay this before goods can be released.

During the customs post-clearance compliance check

When we start the post-clearance check, we’ll tell you what we need from you.

This may include visiting your business premises to:

• inspect goods and documents relating to customs and international trade
• ask for information about goods or services in the international supply chain that you provide, or will provide
• check you’re complying with any customs-related approval, authorisation, registration or licence you hold or have applied for — we sometimes carry out these visits for another government department if the licence relates to the import or export of goods

We may also ask for further information. This may include:

• accounts
• bank records
• import and export paperwork
• contracts
• goods specifications
• other business documents

If we visit you

You must allow us to enter your business premises. We’ll normally only visit you at home if you run your business from there or goods are stored there. We’ll usually make an appointment at a convenient time for both you and us. However, we don’t have to tell you about a visit in advance.

During a visit we may:

• begin by discussing the various aspects of the business
• examine your business records
• take details of supplies made to or by you to check the correct customs treatment in your suppliers or customers’ records
• check specific physical or administrative areas of the business, where these are relevant to an approval, authorisation, registration or licence you hold or have applied for
• inspect the premises and any goods on the premises
• take samples to help classify and identify the goods
• mark goods, documents or items to show we’ve inspected them
• ask for your help when carrying out a physical inspection
• detain or seize goods found to be held contrary to customs law

You can speak to the officer who’s dealing with the check if you:

• are not sure why we’re asking for something
• cannot do what we ask
• think something we’ve asked for is unreasonable or not relevant to the check
• have any other questions at any stage of the check

Information and documents we can ask for

We can inspect any business documents. This includes information held on computers or data storage devices.

You must give us any documents or information we ask for that relate to the business. If you don’t give us the information or documents asked for, we may charge you a penalty.

We have the right to remove any records. If we remove any original records, we’ll give you a receipt. We’ll keep the records secure and return them to you as soon as we can. If you need them back sooner, we’ll make copies and give these to you.

If something is wrong

If we find something wrong, we’ll work with you to put it right. We’ll:

• explain and discuss any areas of concern and agree any further action
• tell you about any amounts overpaid or underpaid and explain how the payment or claim can be made
• send a demand if payment is due
• send a letter confirming our findings and agreed actions or recommendations if needed

During a check the officer won’t usually have time to look at all your records and may not spot every error in your accounts. You must not take it to mean at the end of any check that you’re accounting for all taxes and duties correctly.

For more information about the compliance check process, go to GOV.UK and search ‘HMRC compliance checks help and support’.

When we may use our legal powers

We may have to use our legal powers to get what we need if we cannot agree with you:

• about sending us information or documents
• visiting your business premises

You cannot choose to ignore an information or inspection notice if we give you one. However, you do have certain safeguards when we use our legal powers.

If you need more time

If we’ve asked you to do something and you need more time, you should tell us. We may agree to allow extra time if there’s a good reason. For example, if you’re seriously ill or someone close to you has died.

Third party enquiries

Sometimes we may need to get information, that’s relevant to your goods or services, from other people. If we do this, we will not reveal any more about you than is necessary to get the information we need.

About the penalties that we may charge

If we find you’ve broken European Union or UK customs law, we may charge a penalty for the import, export and holding or processing of goods under customs supervision. This includes, but is not limited to:

• infringements of customs regulations
• failure to comply with any customs-related approval, authorisation, registration or licence
• misdeclarations
• failure to comply with a customs procedure
• failure to produce information
• failure to keep records
• inaccurate returns or documents
• unauthorised removal of goods from customs supervision

For more information about penalties, go to GOV.UK and search ‘Notice 300: customs civil investigation of suspected evasion’ and ‘Notice 301: civil penalties for contraventions of customs law’.

If you disagree

If you don’t agree with something, please tell us.

Before issuing a decision, we’ll normally write to you explaining our intended decision and the reasons for it. You have 30 days to respond if you disagree. When we’ve received your response or after 30 days (whichever is the earlier), we’ll make our decision, considering any further information given or points raised.

If we make a decision that you can appeal against, we’ll write to you about the decision and tell you what to do if you disagree. For more information about your appeal rights, go to GOV.UK and search ‘disagree with a tax decision or penalty’.

If the decision is about the return of goods seized from you, go to GOV.UK and search ‘customs-seizures’.

What happens if you give us information that you know to be untrue

We may carry out a criminal investigation with a view to prosecution if you:

• give us information that you know to be untrue, whether verbally or in a document
• dishonestly declare the wrong amount of duty or claim payments to which you’re not entitled

Your principal rights and obligations

You have the right to be represented during the check. You can authorise anyone to act on your behalf.  You have an obligation to take reasonable care to get things right. If you have an adviser, you must still take reasonable care to make sure that any returns, documents or details they send us on your behalf are correct.

The ‘HMRC Charter’ explains what you can expect from us and what we expect from you. For more information, go to GOV.UK and search ‘HMRC Charter’.

If you need help

If you have any health or personal circumstances that may make it difficult for you to deal with us, please tell the officer who’s contacted you. They’ll help you in whatever way they can. For more details, go to GOV.UK and search ‘get help from HMRC if you need extra support’.

You can also ask someone else to deal with us on your behalf. For example, a professional adviser, friend or relative. However, we may need to talk or write to you directly about some things. If we need to write to you, we’ll send a copy of our letter to the person you’ve asked us to deal with. If we need to talk to you, they can be with you when we do, if you prefer.

Use of open source material

We may observe, monitor, record and retain internet data which is available to anyone. This is known as ‘open source’ material and includes news reports, internet sites, Companies House and Land Registry records, blogs and social networking sites where no privacy settings have been applied.

Compliance checks that this factsheet relates to

This factsheet relates to compliance checks for the following:

• Anti-Dumping Duty
• Agricultural Levy
• CAP Charges
• Community Transit
• Compensatory Interest
• Countervailing Duty
• Customs Duty
• Import and Export Licences
• Import VAT
• Preferential Trade Agreements
• Prohibited and Restricted Goods

More information

Our privacy notice

Our privacy notice sets out the standards that you can expect from us when we ask for information or hold information about you. Go to GOV.UK and search ‘HMRC Privacy Notice’.

If you’re not happy with our service

Please tell the person or office you’ve been dealing with. They’ll try to put things right. If you’re still not happy, they’ll tell you how to make a formal complaint.