THE British International Freight Association (BIFA) has condemned the British Government's scheme as unworkable to recover value added tax (VAT) revenue from sales of cross border e-commerce parcels.

BIFA director general Robert Keen said 'very few' companies have registered for a new government online system designed to protect VAT revenues on foreign parcels in the event of a no-deal Brexit.



'We are not surprised that few companies have signed up for the scheme,' said Mr Keen. or import VAT and other import charges.



'BIFA and its Customs Policy Group advised HMRC [Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs] that this would not work in practice, but that advice appears to have been ignored.



'This is not the first time and several recent policy announcements have caused us significant concerns relative to the UK's Brexit preparations,' he said.



'We have also aired our concerns publicly about Transitional Simplified Procedures (TSP), the Government's flagship policy aimed at alleviating the congestion at the frontier and facilitating the work of customs agents.



'We are still lacking detail of the data required to complete the supplementary declaration despite the fact that the original Brexit date has long since passed,' he said.


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