Importing gold and jewellery
Declaration and record keeping of goods containing gold.
Inward Processing (IP) authorisation holders should ensure that they declare goods containing gold to this procedure up to a maximum weight authorised by HMRC. If the weight of goods to be declared at any time will exceed what is approved in the authorisation by more than 5%, the authorisation holder must notify HMRC and request a variation of the authorisation before importing the goods. HMRC will review the request and may accept or refuse it. IP authorisation holder has a right of review and appeal against the decision made by HMRC. IP authorisation holders must not import goods more than 5% above authorised weight until the variation is granted.
Important guidelines regarding the declaration and record keeping of goods containing gold
When declaring gold or goods that contain gold, it is mandatory to keep and preserve records that include evidence of the quality (carat) and weight of the declared gold. This evidence can be provided in the form of an assay certificate issued by an Assay Office in the United Kingdom. It must be available for inspection by an HMRC officer upon request. If this option is chosen — usually for ingots or other bulk forms of gold — the gold must be clearly stamped by the assay office with the serial number of the related certificate.
Alternatively, the goods may be hallmarked by a recognized authority in the UK or elsewhere. This is typically applicable to individual items of jewellery.