On 23 June 2026, the UK government announced a series of customs and tax measures intended to reduce the administrative burden and increase fairness and certainty for taxpayers. There were a number of key customs measures in this update, including:
- Removal of customs relief for low value imports: following the 2025 Autumn Budget announcement of the intention to reform the customs treatment of low value imports (goods valued at or under £135), the UK government has announced it will bring forward the implementation of the new arrangement by 6 months. This means the changes will be implemented by October 2028 at the latest. The government has signalled its intention to ensure that all goods are adequately controlled, while balancing the need to allow businesses involved in the movement and sale of low value goods sufficient time to prepare for the reform and prevent border disruption. The government will shortly be providing responses to the recent public consultation and legislation supporting the reform is intended to be introduced in the Finance Bill 2026-27.
- Strengthening customs civil penalty framework: there is also intention to strengthen the existing customs civil penalty regime, which will include the government undertaking a review of the maximum potential amount of customs civil penalties imposed with a view to further deter non-compliance. The expectation is that this will particularly focus on breaches of approval conditions relating to essential customs infrastructure at border locations.
- Introduction of a customs specific voluntary disclosure framework: a customs specific voluntary disclosure framework will be developed and published by the end of 2026. This is intended to encourage businesses to make unprompted disclosures of errors in a timely manner, while aiming to reduce the administrative burden required.
- Customs modernisation call for evidence: a call for evidence from industry on trade digitisation and the challenges of this for the future of the UK customs regime will be running until 11:59pm on 15 September. It will primarily focus on seeking views on how the continued changes and modernisation of the international trade landscape is impacting businesses and how the UK’s customs model can be aligned to support the modernising trade world.
Please reach out to our team if you’d like to discuss these key updates further.
