ICAS ICAS logo

Quicklinks

  1. About Us

    Find out about who we are and what we do here at ICAS.

  2. Find a CA

    Search our directory of individual CAs and Member organisations by name, location and professional criteria.

  3. CA Magazine

    View the latest issues of the dedicated magazine for ICAS Chartered Accountants.

  4. Contact Us

    Get in touch with ICAS by phone, email or post, with dedicated contacts for Members, Students and firms.

Login
  • Annual renewal
  • About us
  • Contact us
  • Find a CA
  1. About us
    1. Governance
  2. Members
    1. Become a member
    2. Newly qualified
    3. Manage my membership
    4. Benefits of membership
    5. Careers support
    6. Mentoring
    7. CA Wellbeing
    8. More for Members
    9. Area networks
    10. International communities
    11. Get involved
    12. Top Young CAs
    13. Career breaks
    14. ICAS podcast
    15. Newly admitted members 2022
    16. Newly admitted members 2023
  3. CA Students
    1. Student information
    2. Student resources
    3. Learning requirements
    4. Learning updates
    5. Learning blog
    6. Totum Pro | Student discount card
    7. CA Student wellbeing
  4. Become a CA
    1. How to become a CA
    2. Routes to becoming a CA
    3. CA Stories
    4. Find a training agreement
    5. Why become a CA
    6. Qualification information
    7. University exemptions
  5. Employers
    1. Become an Authorised Training Office
    2. Resources for Authorised Training Offices
    3. Professional entry
    4. Apprenticeships
  6. Find a CA
  7. ICAS events
    1. CA Summit
  8. CA magazine
  9. Insight
    1. Finance + Trust
    2. Finance + Technology
    3. Finance + EDI
    4. Finance + Mental Fitness
    5. Finance + Leadership
    6. Finance + Sustainability
  10. Professional resources
    1. Anti-money laundering
    2. Audit and assurance
    3. Brexit
    4. Business and governance
    5. Charities
    6. Coronavirus
    7. Corporate and financial reporting
    8. Cyber security
    9. Ethics
    10. Insolvency
    11. ICAS Research
    12. Pensions
    13. Practice
    14. Public sector
    15. Sustainability
    16. Tax
  11. CPD - professional development
    1. CPD courses and qualifications
    2. CPD news and updates
    3. CPD support and advice
  12. Regulation
    1. Complaints and sanctions
    2. Regulatory authorisations
    3. Guidance and help sheets
    4. Regulatory monitoring
  13. CA jobs
    1. CA jobs partner: Rutherford Cross
    2. Resources for your job search
    3. Advertise with CA jobs
    4. Hays | A Trusted ICAS CA Jobs Partner
    5. Azets | What's your ambition?
  14. Work at ICAS
    1. Business centres
    2. Meet our team
    3. Benefits
    4. Vacancies
    5. Imagine your career at ICAS
  15. Contact us
    1. Technical and regulation queries
    2. ICAS logo request

Trader Support Service provides free assistance on movement of goods into Northern Ireland

  • LinkedIn (opens new window)
  • Twitter (opens new window)

12 November 2020

Main points:

  • The Northern Ireland Protocol (NIP) becomes effective on 1 January 2021.
  • Businesses which sell goods into NI from Great Britain will face change.
  • To support businesses, a free of charge Trader Support Service has been introduced by the UK government.

The Northern Ireland Protocol (NIP) becomes effective on 1 January 2021.  It must be fully functional from that date, unlike the six-month phased approach which will apply for the UK’s external borders.

Businesses which sell goods into NI from Great Britain will face change because of the NIP as it requires some new administrative processes; notably new digital import declaration requirements, and digital safety and security information, for goods entering NI from the rest of the UK. These processes will depend upon the outcome of discussions within the UK-EU Joint Committee; however, the UK government states they are to be streamlined to the maximum extent and will not require any export declaration, exit declaration, or customs and regulatory clearance for goods as they leave the rest of the UK for NI.

The NIP will require the application of tariffs on goods moving into NI which are “at risk” of moving on to Ireland and the rest of the EU through the porous NI/Ireland border. The precise details of how those duties will be applied (and potentially rebated if the goods do not ultimately move across the EU border) depends upon further decisions of the UK-EU Joint Committee. HMRC’s guidance on moving goods under the NIP falls under “UK and EU transition: new rules for 2021”.

Trader Support Service

To support businesses in dealing with these new processes, a free of charge Trader Support Service has been introduced by the UK government. This end-to-end support service is intended to remove the burden of having to pay for customs declarations for trade across the NI/GB boundary. To access this support, it is necessary to register online at https://www.tradersupportservice.co.uk/tss. Once registered, a business will be required to provide digitally the required information on the goods being moved into NI and Trader Support Service will deal with all the associated declaration requirements for free. It is the government’s hope that even businesses which have never engaged with customs matters before will find the movement of goods to NI continues to be straightforward with this support.

Registration should be done as soon as possible to be ready in good time for 1 January 2021 and to benefit from the information and training material available on this and wider issues like Sanitary and Phytosanitary regulations.

For NI businesses supplying into the rest of the UK internal market, the UK Government states it will ensure that trade from NI to GB will continue as it does now with no import customs declarations, no entry summary declarations, no tariffs, no customs checks or new regulatory checks and no additional approvals required.(There will be some very limited exceptions for a narrow category of controlled goods). It is worth noting that the UK Government also states that “its unequivocal position is that there should be no requirement to submit export or exit summary declarations for goods leaving Northern Ireland for the rest of the UK. This approach will require formal agreement between the UK and the EU via the UK-EU Joint Committee.”

For movement of goods between NI and Ireland there will be no new processes, tariffs or controls. The existing procedure will continue unchanged.

Trade between NI and the rest of the world will continue to be subject to the same customs procedures as at present. The tariff applied to imported goods will be dependent upon whether their intended final destination is the UK or the EU.


For more information on Trader Support Service and how to register, please see the link below.

Find out more

Brexit

Remain up-to-date with all the latest Brexit-related news and resources for Chartered Accountants.

2-23-marsh 2-23-marsh
ICAS logo

Footer links

  • Contact us
  • Terms and conditions
  • Modern slavery statement
  • Privacy notice
  • CA magazine

Connect with ICAS

  • Facebook (opens new window) Facebook Icon
  • Twitter (opens new window) Twitter Icon
  • LinkedIn (opens new window) LinkedIn Icon
  • Instagram (opens new window) Instagram Icon

ICAS is a member of the following bodies

  • Consultative Committee of Accountancy Bodies (opens new window) Consultative Committee of Accountancy Bodies logo
  • Chartered Accountants Worldwide (opens new window) Chartered Accountants Worldwide logo
  • Global Accounting Alliance (opens new window) Global Accounting Alliance
  • International Federation of Accountants (opens new window) IFAC
  • Access Accountancy (opens new window) Access Acountancy

Charities

  • ICAS Foundation (opens new window) ICAS Foundation
  • SCABA (opens new window) scaba

Accreditations

  • ISO 9001 - RGB (opens new window)
© ICAS 2022

The mark and designation “CA” is a registered trade mark of The Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland (ICAS), and is available for use in the UK and EU only to members of ICAS. If you are not a member of ICAS, you should not use the “CA” mark and designation in the UK or EU in relation to accountancy, tax or insolvency services. The mark and designation “Chartered Accountant” is a registered trade mark of ICAS, the Institute of Chartered Accountants of England and Wales and Chartered Accountants Ireland. If you are not a member of one of these organisations, you should not use the “Chartered Accountant” mark and designation in the UK or EU in relation to these services. Further restrictions on the use of these marks also apply where you are a member.

ICAS logo

Our cookie policy

ICAS.com uses cookies which are essential for our website to work. We would also like to use analytical cookies to help us improve our website and your user experience. Any data collected is anonymised. Please have a look at the further information in our cookie policy and confirm if you are happy for us to use analytical cookies: