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Customs Freight Simplified Procedures is a clearance format introduced by Customs and Excise to aid the release of cargo and improve your cash flow. The main advantages of using CFSP are : Gain accelerated clearance times at the arrival port (subject to normal checks). Tailor the initial clearance procedure to suit the needs of your business. Achieve cash flow benefits that are convenient for you. UK Transit movements can be carried out under a limitless guarantee waiver. |
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You must obtain approval from Customs & Excise before undertaking any CFSP simplified movements or specific/general associated procedure such as warehousing or IPR. Trader shipping is one of the largest CFSP operators in the UK and fully authorised by Customs & Excise - which means we can handle the application for you and add you to our customer base of approved importers. Many of our customers are now CFSP approved and are already gaining the benefits of temporary storage and improved cash flow. |
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How
CFSP works On arrival at port, the cargo is entered to Customs and Excise by Trader Shipping using a Simplified Frontier Declaration (SFD). The initial SFD clears the cargo making it available to move but does not involve payment of any taxes. The SFD is paperless to Customs and clearance is instant. Your cargo will, however, still be liable to any checks at the port by customs or port health authorities. Depending on how you have set up your clearance procedures with us, the cargo is now free to deliver or place into temporary storage - more about this later. A second Customs entry called a Simplified Declaration for Imorts or SDI, is later submitted by ourselves and it is this SDI that actually declares the amount of duty and VAT you are paying but this could be several weeks after your cargo has been delivered to your customer. |
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Most cargo can be cleared under CFSP except UN embargo, Endangered species and derivatives, UN import sanctions, Live animals and products, Plant health subject to forestry control, Chemicals,Asbestos and carcinogenic substances, Hazardous waste, Consumer protection, Ozone layer protected goods, CB Radios, Mobile phones, CAP goods subject to specific controls, simplified IPR/OPR, ATA carnet goods, Excise goods, Ex warehouse goods which are exported or transferred and personal effects. |
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CFSP is based around time scales known as base dates and tax points. The base date is established when the cargo is finally delivered. The tax point establishes when you will have to declare your cargo for payment of duty and VAT and each tax point varies according to which procedure type is used on arrival in the UK. There are three main procedures to choose from under CFSP, each with its own benefits to suit your company. |
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LOCAL CLEARANCE Local clearance is the simplest form of CFSP. Under this procedure, the entry date of the SFD establishes both the base date and tax point. Once set, you have up to the 4th working day of the month after the cargo was cleared to submit a declaration (SDI) to Customs & Excise. For example, if you cleared your cargo on the 25th February, the SDI would have to be submitted by the 4th working day of March. If you cleared your cargo on the 1st of February then, again, you would submit an SDI by the 4th working day in March. The obvious benefit of this procedure is that, potentially, you do not have to pay duty or VAT for your cargo for the best part of 1 month after it has been delivered giving you more flexible financial advantages. TEMPORARY STORAGE Before this procedure can be used, your nominated warehouse must become approved by Customs & Excise. We will submit the application for you together with the warehouse plans and fire certificates if required. The approval should not take more than 48 hours and to avoid delays, approval prior to vessel arrival is recommended. Once your cargo has been delivered to the nominated warehouse, it is now deemed to be within temporary storage and the base date is set. From here you have up to 20 days before the tax point needs to be set and advised to us - the tax point being when the cargo is released from the warehouse to your customer. For example, if your cargo delivered on the 1st February, you must declare the tax point by the 20th February and then we have up to 4th working day in March to submit the SDI. Equally, if the cargo delivered on the 22nd February and then the tax point was set in March, an SDI could be lodged as late as the 4th working day in April. The flexibility of temporary storage and potential financial gains make this the most popular procedure to use. The only drawback is that Customs & Excise do ask for up to date records to be kept at all times and checks will be made by your local Customs authority. WAREHOUSING CFSP warehousing works in similar ways to conventional bonded warehousing in that cargo arriving in the UK is cleared at the port and placed into bonded storage for removal at a later date. The SFD establishes the base date and an SDI is submitted upon delivery to your approved warehouse thereby establishing the tax point. Once cargo is held in store, it can remain there indefinately until required by your customer. It can then be withdrawn in virtually any quantity providing all transactions are recorded and submitted to customs. The benefit of only withdrawing stock that you need makes warehousing extremely flexible. However, it does call for very accurate stock and transaction records and the probable need for additional software to run the stock system. Your warehouse must also be approved for use as a bonded store by Customs & Excise. |
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For Customs & Excise, CFSP is virtually paperless. All records must be held and made available by the importer and his agent. Customs & Excise do not check each consignment as it enters the UK but an audit at some stage will be made. The audit performs basic checks that would normally be done at the port of clearance such as checking values, currency, licences used and preferential documentation but in addition, Customs & Excise would also be checking that the correct procedures were being used and tax points had been set correctly. Failure to produce complete records or constant misuse of the system will inevitably result in withdrawal of CFSP authorisation. Be warned ! |
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