Ah, Brexit - the word people across the UK are fed up of hearing. To say ‘we’re in a pickle’ seems to be a bit of an understatement, and as much as we’d like to bury our heads in the sand and hope this all blows over, we have to face it head on - *gulp*.

With so much back and forth in the media, it can be hard to know where you stand in the midst of it all - and even harder to know how it will affect your business. One thing we can say is you’re not alone! We’ve outlined a few key points to be aware of on the run up to Brexit, and have found a really handy tool from HMRC that could be useful to you… Keep reading to find out more!

The latest letter from HMRC

To help you know what to do with your business, HMRC has collated a set of guides that provide advice and guidance on how to prepare for a no-deal Brexit - which unfortunately is looking more and more likely as time goes on! The guides are aimed at UK businesses that trade solely with companies in the EU. They pretty much outline all of the important actions you need to take and changes that you should be aware of if we leave the EU without a deal.

HMRC has also provided key information about paying import VAT and using EU VAT IT systems if we leave with no deal. We’d strongly recommend giving these guides a read - better to be safe than sorry! They can all be found on the HMRC website.

An overview

To prepare your business for a no-deal Brexit, there are a few things you need to do:

• Register for an EORI number. You’ll need this number to continue trading with the EU, and it usually takes about three working days for the number to be emailed to you.
• Decide if you want to hire an external company to arrange your import and/or export declarations for you. You can make the declarations yourself, but you’ll need to familiarise yourself with the relevant software and put new processes in place.
• Register for Transitional Simplified Procedures (TSP). The TSP is a process that’s been created to make importing easier after the UK leaves the EU, should there be no deal.

Prepare your business for Brexit tool

Don’t worry if you’re feeling a bit overwhelmed by it all - it’s a lot to take in! One thing that might help relieve some of the pressure is using the new prepare your business for Brexit tool created by HMRC. If you want advice and guidance that’s relevant to your business, this is the place to go. All you need to do is answer seven questions and HMRC will give you the following information:

• What you need to do to prepare your business for a no-deal Brexit
• What’s changing in your industry
• Information on specific rules and regulations

Contact us

If you’re still not sure about what you need to do to prepare for Brexit, feel free to contact us for more information. We’d be happy to help you with any concerns you might have.