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UK consultation on simplifying and modernising Intrastat

  • Jan 25, 2014 | Richard Asquith

UK consultation on simplifying and modernising Intrastat

The UK’s HMRC released this week a consultation on ideas to simply and modernise Intrastat filings.

EC to ease Intrastat compliance burden

The consultation has been launched off the back of an EU initiative from Eurostat to reduce the compliance requirements for Intrastat.  Intrastat is the reporting schedule EU VAT registered companies must complete to detail the movement of goods across any of the 28 EU member states’ borders.  They enable the customs and other government authorities to track trade within the EU.  There are EU Intrastat reporting thresholds for each country.

The UK has already raised its Intrastat reporting threshold in 2014 to help take a lot of companies out of the filing regime.

End of Intrastat Arrivals?

One of the simplification proposals, known as SIMSTAT, would involve the removal of the requirement to report arrivals (imports) from one country to another – only leaving the dispatches (exports) to be collected.  Whilst this would effectively half the reporting requirements on businesses, it would mean more dispatch information would have to be collected e.g. VAT numbers of recipients.  Additionally, some of the country consolidation on Intrastat would have to be withdrawn, and dispatches listed by customer.

The consultation will finish on 8 April 2014.


VP Global Indirect Tax
Richard Asquith
VP Global Indirect Tax Richard Asquith
Richard Asquith is the former VP Global Indirect Tax at Avalara