What MyCustomsInfo® Recovers In Practice

A mid-size UK manufacturer importing steel components, fasteners, and sub-assemblies had been using the same commodity codes since January 2021. The codes had been assigned by their freight forwarder during the immediate post-Brexit period and had never been reviewed. Three years of declarations were running on classifications that, in several product categories, did not reflect the correct UK Global Tariff headings for the goods as described on commercial invoices.

The finance director had no visibility of customs duty as a recoverable cost. Duty was treated as a fixed operational expense. There was no process for reviewing historical declarations and no mechanism for connecting import data to the classification review function.

MyCustomsInfo® ingested three years of import declaration data — over 18,000 entries — and applied classification analysis across the full dataset. The audit identified systematic misclassification across four product categories, in each case at a commodity code attracting a higher duty rate than the correct classification. A secondary analysis identified re-exported sub-assemblies that qualified for duty drawback under UK regulations but had never been claimed.

Findings were presented in a structured report prioritised by financial value per entry. Amendment filings were prepared for the recoverable entries within the four-year window. Duty drawback claims were assembled and submitted through the client's customs broker.

Total recovery of £340,000 across classification corrections and duty drawback claims, delivered within the engagement period. The ongoing classification review identified corrections that reduced the monthly duty liability on new imports by approximately £8,500 per month. The client now operates a quarterly classification review cycle using the MyCustomsInfo® platform.

A UK importer of active pharmaceutical ingredients and finished medicinal products received an HMRC information request as a precursor to a post-clearance audit. The business imported from multiple countries of origin and had been claiming preferential duty rates under several of the UK's free trade agreements. The information request specifically referenced origin documentation and customs valuation methodology.

The compliance team had limited capacity to respond at the volume HMRC requested within the timeframe given. Documentation for origin claims was held across multiple systems and third-party logistics providers. There was no centralised audit trail. A review of a sample of declarations suggested that several origin claims lacked the documentary evidence required to support them.

MyCustomsInfo® was engaged to conduct a pre-audit simulation covering 24 months of import declarations. The platform ingested the full declaration dataset and mapped each entry against the applicable origin rules for the free trade agreements under which preference had been claimed. Entries where origin evidence was missing, incomplete, or inconsistent with the declared country of origin were identified and prioritised by duty value at risk.

A parallel classification review identified a secondary set of entries where the declared commodity code was inconsistent with the product description and intended use — relevant in pharmaceutical imports where specific chapter notes and additional notes in the UK Global Tariff determine the correct heading.

The findings report identified the entries carrying the highest HMRC risk. The client made voluntary disclosure to HMRC on the entries where underpayment was confirmed, removing the penalty exposure on those entries. Documentary evidence was assembled and submitted for the preference claims that could be supported. Entries where origin could not be evidenced were corrected prospectively.

Voluntary disclosure on the confirmed underpayments resulted in duty and interest owed but no civil penalty — a saving of approximately £610,000 in penalty exposure relative to the amount HMRC would have assessed had the same findings emerged during the audit. The supported preference claims were accepted by HMRC. The classification corrections reduced the ongoing duty liability on new imports and identified a further £95,000 in overpayments recoverable within the four-year window.

A UK multi-channel retailer importing consumer goods from Asia and the EU was operating at high declaration volumes across a broad product range. Post-Brexit, the business had moved significant sourcing from EU suppliers to non-EU alternatives to reduce supply chain disruption. In doing so, it had lost access to the preferential duty rates it had previously relied on under EU single market arrangements, without fully mapping which goods qualified for preferential rates under the UK's new free trade agreements.

Additionally, the business had a returns rate of approximately 18% on certain product categories. Returned goods were being re-imported or destroyed, but no duty drawback had ever been claimed on the original import duties paid on goods that were subsequently re-exported or destroyed.

MyCustomsInfo® mapped the full import portfolio against the UK's applicable free trade agreements by commodity code and country of origin. The analysis identified a significant subset of goods sourced from countries with which the UK holds preferential trade arrangements, where the correct origin documentation would have reduced the applicable duty rate. A preference rate recovery programme was implemented, with the client's suppliers requested to provide the necessary origin certification for future shipments and, where backdatable, for shipments within the amendment window.

The drawback analysis reviewed 24 months of import declarations and matched them against returns and destruction records by SKU. Qualifying entries were identified, the duty value per entry calculated, and drawback claims assembled for submission. The claims were filed within the statutory window through the client's customs broker.

Total recovery of £290,000 across duty drawback claims on returned and destroyed goods and backdated preference rate corrections. Ongoing preference rate application on new imports reduced the monthly duty liability by approximately £14,000 per month. The classification of the product portfolio was simultaneously reviewed, identifying a further set of codes requiring correction to avoid C18 exposure on the high-volume import lines.