Duty deferment accounts and customs guarantees explained

What a duty deferment account does

A duty deferment account lets an importer, or someone acting for them, delay paying most import charges. Instead of paying for each consignment as it clears, everything deferred during a month is collected in a single Direct Debit.

You can defer:

• Customs duty, including anti-dumping and countervailing duty.
• Import VAT, if you are not accounting for it on your VAT Return.
• Excise duties, for goods that carry them.
• Interest on customs debts.

For customs duty and import VAT, the accounting period is one calendar month. The total is collected on the 16th of the following month, or the next working day if the 16th is not one. HMRC puts the average credit at about 30 days, ranging from roughly two to six weeks depending on when in the month your goods clear.

Your own account or your agent's

You do not have to hold your own account. A customs agent or forwarder acting for you can hold a deferment account and use it for your imports. If they pay duty for you, agree in writing how and when they will bill you, and whether they charge for doing so.

There is a legal side too. An agent acting in its own name for an importer is jointly and severally liable for any customs debt, and may be held responsible for deferment debts the importer runs up. Bear this in mind when you agree payment terms.

Your own account can make sense once you import regularly. You control the limit, the statements are in your name, and you can let any agent you choose use it. Another option is a cash account, which you pay money into and can let an agent use. Charges are taken in the order your declarations were made, and you can withdraw money you do not need.

Guarantees and guarantee waivers

A customs guarantee is an agreement, usually from a bank or insurer, that covers duty if you do not pay it. For a deferment account in Great Britain, most UK businesses do not need one unless they have been insolvent or have a history of serious non-compliance. Instead, they apply for a guarantee waiver.

To get a waiver, your business must be established in the UK for customs purposes. What HMRC asks for depends on how much you want to defer:

• Up to £10,000 a month: more information about your finances if you do not file accounts at Companies House, for example as a sole trader or general partnership, or if you file consolidated accounts.
• Over £10,000 a month: extra financial information on form PFS1, with supporting documents.
• Authorised Economic Operators for customs (AEOC) do not need to send a PFS1.

Do not send a guarantee with your application. HMRC will tell you if it needs one. If the limit you ask for is more than your waiver allows, HMRC will set out options, such as a full or partial guarantee or a lower deferment limit. If you do not reply within 30 days, it may reject the application.

Where a guarantee is needed, it must come from a UK-established firm regulated by the Prudential Regulation Authority. Businesses established outside the UK can still defer duty if they have a UK guarantor.

How to apply

You apply online through HMRC. Have these ready:

• Your EORI number and the name linked to it.
• Your company number, if you have one, plus your UK address and a correspondence address.
• Your VAT number, if you are registered.
• Details of your directors and officials, including dates of birth.
• Details of the person responsible for customs matters and their practical experience.
• An estimate of how much you expect to defer.

If you want a waiver, you may also be asked for financial records and details of any breaches of customs or tax rules in the last three years. Once HMRC has everything, it aims to process applications within 30 working days, and it can take longer where a guarantee is needed.

If you are approved, you get a deferment approval number. You must set up the Direct Debit using that number to activate the account, even if you do not plan to use it straight away.

Using your account with a customs agent

Your agent needs your deferment approval number and your permission to use it. You can add or remove an agent through HMRC's online service for changing your account, using the agent's GB EORI number. The service can be used by a sole trader, partner, director, company secretary or trustee, or by someone one of them authorises.

Tell the agent in writing which account to use for which shipments, especially if they also hold an account of their own. Mixing the two makes the monthly check harder.

If a Direct Debit fails, HMRC suspends the account until the payment is made and a valid Direct Debit is in place, and it may charge interest. If you change bank, send a new Direct Debit instruction at least 10 days before the next payment day, and do not cancel the old one until the new one is in place.

The VAT side: postponed VAT accounting

If you are VAT registered, you can account for import VAT on your VAT Return instead of paying it at the border. This is postponed VAT accounting. You declare the import VAT and reclaim it, under the normal rules, on the same return. No approval is needed. If you use it, you do not need a deferment account for import VAT, so the account is mainly for duty.

The choice is made on each import declaration, with your VAT number entered, and it cannot be changed once the declaration is submitted. If someone declares for you, you must give them written instructions before they make the declaration.

Each month, a postponed import VAT statement shows the VAT you accounted for. It is usually available by the 10th working day, stays online for six months, and HMRC says you must download and keep a copy. If you are not VAT registered, import VAT can go through the deferment account instead. Our guide to getting set up to import covers VAT and payment choices in more detail.

Other times a guarantee comes up

Deferment is not the only reason for a customs guarantee. One can be needed for customs special procedures such as customs warehousing or inward processing, although in Great Britain it usually is not. One can also be needed where the amount of duty is unknown or disputed.

Provisional anti-dumping duty is a current example. When provisional duty on certain glass containers from China took effect on 9 September 2026, importers of those goods had to give a guarantee for the estimated duty, as a bank guarantee, bond or cash deposit. Where a business needs a guarantee for several purposes, the usual choice is a customs comprehensive guarantee, which covers them under one arrangement with a bank or insurer.

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