HMRC has advised that CHIEF will be closed to new import declarations from the 30th September 2022.
The Department has informed BIFA that it has been monitoring customs agents and importers who have a deferment account in CHIEF to see how many have fully transferred their deferment account to CDS.
HMRC has advised that very soon they will be contacting all deferment account holders who have not fully transitioned this account to CDS.
Particular emphasis will be placed on:
- DDA holders must complete a new Direct Debit Instruction for CDS. If they do not complete one then they cannot use their existing DDA when they migrate to CDS as CDS has a different bank account to CHIEF
- To ensure that the deferment account holder has either obtained a bank guarantee or where one is not required a waiver https://www.gov.uk/guidance/check-if-you-can-get-a-guarantee-waiver-for-a-duty-deferment-account-in-great-britain
- In particular for importers holding their own deferment account via their Government Gateway to authorise customs agents to use it
- Also, importers will have to provide their customs agents information regarding guarantee and waiver references
We understand that contact will commence in the next fortnight.
When preparing for CDS, the first stages of subscribing your Government Gateway user ID to the Customs Declaration Service and then correctly transitioning your deferment account with associated waivers and guarantees to CDS are in many ways the most important stages of the whole process.
