How to claim a customs duty waiver

Published:

18 December 2021

Updated:

18 December 2025

Contents

    If there are any words or acronyms in this document that you don’t know, visit the Jargon Buster or use the search tool on the Northern Ireland Customs & Trade (NICTA) website to find a definition.

    This guide looks at how traders can claim customs duty waivers in the form of de minimis aid from the United Kingdom (UK) Government for movements into Northern Ireland (NI) to cover the cost of ‘at risk’ tariffs for Great Britain (GB) to NI movements, and how the Trader Support Service (TSS) enables them to do this.

    Introduction

    The UK signed a trade deal with the European Union (EU) at the end of 2020 that secured zero tariffs and zero quotas across all product lines. However, duty can still apply for goods moving from GB to NI that are deemed ‘at risk’ of moving into the EU if the goods cannot meet the origin requirements to benefit from the UK-EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement (the UK-EU TCA).

    For instance, duties may need to be paid for goods moving from GB to NI if their final consumption or sale could occur in the EU. You can find out more about when tariffs are payable in the Tariffs on goods movements into Northern Ireland (NI) guidance on NICTA.

    The good news is that when a goods movement is deemed ‘at risk’ and duties are payable, you are entitled to claim a customs duty waiver from the government, covering the cost.

    What is a Customs duty waiver: the term used on GOV.UK and in other public communications to describe the specific de minimis aid to cover the cost of ‘at risk’ tariffs for movements into NI from GB and the Rest of World excluding the European Union.

    The claim of a customs duty waiver will be a form of de minimis aid. There are, however, limits to the amount of de minimis aid a national government can provide to its businesses.

    What is De minimis aid: a small amount of government-provided aid that is unlikely to distort competition rules.

    Who is this guide for?

    If you are registered for the UK Internal Market Scheme (UKIMS) and you are submitting an Internal Market Movement Information (IMMI) under the Simplified Processes for Internal Market Movements (SPIMM) introduced as part of the Windsor Framework, there will be no customs duties payable, and you would not need to refer to this guide to claim customs duty waivers.

    The customs duty waiver on offer for ‘at risk’ goods movements is predominantly aimed at small or medium-sized traders, or those who only occasionally move goods into NI.

    While larger traders can still claim a waiver, they are more likely to have used up their de minimis aid allowance already, outside of claiming a waiver for customs duty.

    Responsibility for claiming

    The responsibility for applying for customs duty waivers falls on you, the trader. TSS supports you to claim a waiver for your goods movement into NI when you are completing your Supplementary Declaration or Full Frontier Declaration. You can read more about this stage of the TSS process in the Making a customs duty waiver claim in TSS section of this guide.

    When can you claim?

    If goods are moved from GB to NI and there is a possibility that they may end up being sold or consumed within the EU later, they are deemed to be ‘at risk’ and EU tariffs may apply.

    You can see what the tariff rate for your goods will be, if they are deemed to be ‘at risk’ and are not covered by the terms of the EU-UK TCA, using the Northern Ireland Online Tariff tool on GOV.UK.

    Important: Refer to the Eligibility and de minimis aid allowances section below for eligibility for claims and de minimis aid limits for the different undertakings (including groups with branches and subsidiaries in GB and NI, and businesses under the same VAT Group) within the different business sectors. Refer to the Appendix to this guide for a list of different types of aid that counts toward the de minimis aid allowance limits.

    However, you can claim a customs duty waiver to cover EU import tariffs paid. If you have not exceeded the de minimis aid allowances at the point your import declaration is submitted, you can claim a waiver for goods you bring into:

    • NI from GB
    • NI from countries outside of the UK and the EU – in this case, where the EU duty is higher you claim a waiver for the difference between the UK and the EU tariff, and the Customs Declaration Service (CDS) will calculate this for you

    You can also claim waivers for a shipment carrying a mix of both, goods moving to NI as an end-destination, and those which would be moving onwards for final sale or consumption in the EU (for example, Ireland). In this scenario, the customs duty waiver will only cover the ‘at risk’ items where the NI Additional Information Code ‘NIAID’ has been selected.

    How to claim

    If you are not moving goods to NI from GB under UKIMS, you need to submit an import declaration each time you move goods into NI. If Customs Duty is payable, you can claim a waiver for Customs Duty on your import declaration for goods movement into NI.

    You can use the TSS Portal to complete your declarations and claim a waiver for Customs Duty on your import declaration.

    If you complete declarations yourself, you can use the UK Trade Tariff: volume 3 on GOV.UK for information on duties and measures associated to the items you are declaring.

    If you have underpaid customs duty on ‘at risk’ goods you can also claim a customs duty waiver to cover the outstanding customs duty by using the C2001CDS form available from Apply for a voluntary clearance amendment (underpayment) (C2001) on GOV.UK. You can do this by choosing the de minimis state aid option on the form.

    If you have paid customs duty, in cash, on ‘at risk’ goods in the past three years, you can apply for a retrospective repayment as explained on How to claim a repayment of import duty and VAT if you’ve overpaid on GOV.UK.

    Note: If you have claimed your goods to be ‘not at risk’ under UKIMS but their end destination/consumption deviated to an EU member state (for example, Ireland) after their arrival to NI, it is your responsibility to report the final destination of the goods and the respective underpayment of EU duty to HRMC. In this scenario, under exceptional circumstances you may be able to claim the custom duty waiver against the EU import duty underpaid. You need to use the form C2001CDS available from Apply for a voluntary clearance amendment (underpayment) (C2001) on GOV.UK. You can do this by choosing the de minimis state aid option on the form.

    Refer to GOV.UK for further details on how to claim a waiver for duty.

    Steps to follow before you can claim customs duty waivers

    From 3 July 2023, HMRC introduced a new digital service for reporting and recording de minimis aid. If you wish to continue to claim customs duty waivers on goods movements into NI from 30 September 2023 onwards you will need to have done the following before you can claim customs duty waivers:

    • Subscribe to HMRC online services so that you can register your undertaking – you can subscribe using your Government Gateway user ID on GOV.UK
    • Register your undertaking with this service
    • Declare which industry sector your undertaking is involved in
    • Add the details of the businesses within your undertaking to your account
    • If you are in a VAT group, you should add all the businesses that are in that VAT group to your undertaking. You will then be given an account reference number for your undertaking.
    • Reported all de minimis aid received over a three-year rolling period (or the last three tax years if you are in the ‘fisheries and aquaculture’ sector)

    For further details refer to The importance of record-keeping and reporting section in this guide.

    You will then be able to make a customs duty waiver claim on your import declaration submitted through TSS.

    There is further guidance on claiming a customs duty waiver on GOV.UK.

    Eligibility and de minimis aid allowances

    Staying within de minimis aid allowances

    Most businesses/undertakings can claim up to a maximum of €300,000 of de minimis aid over a three-year rolling basis. Different de minimis aid allowances apply, depending on the type of business sector, and these are discussed in the Business sector allowances section of this guide.

    Note: The €300,000 allowance does not just cover customs duty waivers, but also other de minimis aid provided as subsidised contracts, loans or grants. You can view examples of the types of aid that could count towards your de minimis aid allowance in the Appendix of this guide.

    If you are unsure whether an aid you claim is counted as de minimis aid, you should contact the provider of that aid.

    Note: By claiming a waiver for customs duty, you are making a legal declaration that your claim will not result in you exceeding the allowance for your sector.

    If your claim goes over the allowance for the sector that your business is in, you may be subject to recovery proceedings and may have to pay interest on the extra amount you have claimed.

    Business sector allowance limits

    Businesses can claim up to the maximum de minimis aid allowance limits (as explained below) for their business sector over a three-year rolling basis (except for the fisheries and aquaculture sector which must be calculated over the existing and previous two tax years), including customs and non-customs-related aid. This means that every time you get a new grant of de minimis aid you need to assess the total amount of de minimis aid granted in the previous three-year rolling basis (or three tax year basis for the fisheries and aquaculture sector) to the date of the current claim.

    • All businesses except those in the agricultural primary production and fisheries and aquaculture sector have the €300,000 de minimis aid allowance limit
    • Businesses in the agricultural primary production sector have a €50,000 de minimis aid allowance limit
    • Businesses in the fisheries and aquaculture sector have a €30,000 de minimis aid allowance limit

    Note: If your business is involved in more than one sector, the lowest de minimis aid allowance limit will apply. There is further information on How you can claim a waiver for duty on GOV.UK.

    Processing and marketing agricultural products

    If any business in your undertaking process and market agricultural products but are not involved in the primary production of them, this restriction does not apply. If you are not involved in any other sector that has a lower de minimis aid allowance limit, you are eligible for the general €300,000 allowance limit over a three-year rolling basis.

    • Processing of agricultural products means any action to an agricultural product that produces another agricultural product, such as making beer from hops and bread from wheat
    • Marketing of agricultural products means holding or displaying products you are intending to sell or deliver or place on the market in any other way – the exceptions to this are the first sale by a primary producer to resellers or processors and any activity preparing a product for the first sale

    A sale by a primary producer to final consumers is considered marketing if it takes place in separate premises for that purpose.

    Definitions within the agricultural products sector

    If any part of your business is involved in the primary production of agricultural products, you are eligible for a sector allowance of a maximum of €50,000 de minimis aid over a three-year rolling basis.

    • Primary production of agricultural products means the production of products listed in Annex 1 to the Treaty of the Functioning of the European Union (except fishery and aquaculture products), without any further changes to the nature of the products
    • On-farm activities that are needed to prepare an animal or plant product for first sale are included in the definition of primary production

    Examples of on-farm activities include:

    • Harvesting
    • Cutting and threshing of cereals
    • Packing eggs

    Definitions within the fishery and aquaculture products sector

    If any part of your business is involved in the production, processing or marketing of fishery and aquaculture products, a sector allowance of €30,000 de minimis aid over three tax years (the current and previous two tax years) up to the date of the current claim.

    • A fishery product means aquatic organisms resulting from any fishing activity or products derived from them
    • An aquaculture product means aquatic organisms at any stage of their life cycle resulting from any aquaculture activity or products derived from them
    • Processing and marketing mean all operations, including handling, treatment, production and distribution performed between the time of landing or harvesting and the end-product stage

    Making a customs duty waiver claim in TSS

    Once you have completed the Steps to follow before you can claim customs duty waivers described above, you can claim a customs duty waiver on ‘at risk’ goods via the TSS Portal, from within your Supplementary Declaration or Full Frontier Declaration by selecting the option ‘Within subsidy limit and claiming waiver (NIAID)’ in the NI Additional Information Codes field (at the consignment (header) level of the item).

    This will automatically populate the Additional Information Code field in the Additional Information tab for the item with ‘NIAD’.

    • Note: If you select any other option than ‘Within subsidy limit and claiming waiver (NIAID)’, such as ‘Goods are not ‘at risk’ (NIREM)’ from the NI Additional Information Code field (at the consignment (header) level of the item, you need to access the Additional Information tab (item level, bottom page) and click ‘New’.
    • You should then input the code ‘NIAID’ into the Additional Information Code
    1. Do this for each goods item you wish to claim a customs duty waiver for.

    For more information about completing your Supplementary Declarations or Full Frontier Declarations, including information about each data field, refer to the Data guide: TSS declaration data requirements on NICTA.

    The importance of record-keeping and reporting

    HMRC’s new digital recording and reporting service for de minimis aid

    From 3 July 2023, you must subscribe to HMRC’s new digital service for reporting and recording de minimis aid and register your undertaking if you wish to continue to claim customs duty waivers on goods movements into NI from 30 September 2023 onwards.

    Any undertakings that were not registered on HMRC’s system by 30 September 2023 will not be able to continue to claim customs duty waivers through CDS (via TSS or otherwise) for all goods movements into NI, until their registration is complete.

    For further information on reporting de minimis aid grants and how to view your allowances, refer to GOV.UK.

    Reporting de minimis aid

    All customs duty waivers successfully claimed through TSS or other third parties will automatically be recorded into the new digital service through the CDS declaration records to count towards the undertaking’s business sector’s de minimis aid allowance limit.

    However, you are required to report all the de minimis state aid outside of your claims for customs duty waivers using HMRC’s online service.

    If you do not record the de minimis aid already claimed, you may face penalties if you exceed your de minimis aid allowance limit by continuing to claim customs duty waivers. It is a UK Government requirement that you keep up-to-date and correct records of the de minimis aid you have successfully claimed for a period of up to 10 years from your last claim.

    If you are unsure whether the other state grants or allowances you have claimed are regarded as de minimis aid, you need to contact the providers for confirmation.

    De minimis aid tracking

    From 30 September 2023, HMRC directly monitors all customs duty waiver claims against traders’ de minimis aid allowance limits. If your claim goes over your business sectors de minimis aid allowance limit, you may be subject to recovery proceedings and required to pay interest on the extra amount you have claimed.

    Whilst the trader can make as many de minimis aid claims as they like within the relevant de minimis aid allowance limit, they may also wish to gauge which goods in their product range have the highest duties and how often they wish to claim, to ensure they keep within their specified limits. For other options to reduce the payment of EU duties, refer to the Tariffs on goods movements into NI guide on NICTA.

    I need to know more

    If you need to find further information, the following resources are available. There is also a comprehensive set of guides on Supplementary Declarations on NICTA:

    For queries on completing your declarations or whether your declarations are ‘at risk’, you can consult the TSS Contact Centre for support on 0800 060 8888.

    Changes to guidance and policy

    Last updated December 2025

    December 2025: Updated for accessibility

    October 2025: Continuous improvement regarding NIAID.

    May 2025: Removal of the Windsor Framework disclaimer.

    March 2025: Updated to reflect WF terminology updates, and changes in De Minimis Aid Sector Allowances.

    February 2024: Updated to remove UKTS references.

    January 2024: Updated to reflect the eligibility for de minimis aid – government aid which covers duties up to a certain limit for some goods, reducing costs for traders – and how it can be claimed.

    December 2023: Updated to reflect GOV.UK updates associated with UKIMS and EORI, customs duty waiver allowance and TSS Portal landing page changes.

    October 2023: Updated to reflect current status of UK Trader Scheme (UKTS) and UK Internal Market Scheme (UKIMS) and removal of Print and Post (P&P) reference.

    September 2023: Updated for the introduction of the new HMRC digital system for claiming a waiver on Customs Duty.

    July 2023: Updated to reflect UK Internal Market Scheme (UKIMS) changes.

    July 2022: Addition of section on changes to guidance and policy.

    Published 2021

    Appendix: De minimis aid examples

    The following are examples of de minimis aid.

    Traders should check with the authority that provided the aid to confirm whether it counts as de minimis aid. All de minimis aid should be included in the trader’s assessment of the financial support that they have received and reported into the HMRC’s digital service for reporting de minimis aid.

    • State grants
    • Interest rate relief
    • Tax relief
    • Tax credits
    • State guarantees or holdings
    • State provision of goods or services on preferential terms
    • Direct subsidies
    • Tax exemptions
    • Preferential interest rates
    • Guarantees of loans on especially favourable terms
    • Acquisition of land or buildings either gratuitously or on favourable terms
    • Provision of goods and services on preferential terms
    • Indemnities against operating losses
    • Reimbursement of costs in the event of success
    • State guarantees, whether direct or indirect, to credit operations preferential re-discount rates
    • Discount rates
    • Dividend guarantees
    • Preferential public ordering
    • Reduction of, or exemption from, charges or taxes, including accelerated depreciation and the reduction of social contributions
    • Deferred collection of fiscal or social contributions
    • Assistance financed by special levies
    • Capital transfers

     

    Related guides

    How to use the TSS portal

    Creating a Goods Movement Reference

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