HMRC are in the process of updating guidance for NCTS users who move goods using Transit. The following information has been released and will be important that those effected users are kept informed.

Users will be contacted by HMRC during April and May to be assigned an Authorised Reference number to be used when entering goods movements using NCTS5.

The changes will affect businesses that:

• Are an Authorised Consignor or Authorised Consignee
• Represents an Authorised Consignor or Authorised Consignee

What happens now and what will change 1st July, 2024:

When submitting an NCTS declaration to a Simplified Procedure, the declarant is required to input the Authorised Location Code relating to the UK Authorised Premises where the goods are either starting or ending the movement.

From 1st July, 2024, this Authorised Location Code will become known as the Location Reference Number. In addition to this data input, the user will need to provide their new Authorisation Reference Number. This will determine whether the correct authorisation is valid.

This Authorisation Reference Number will be required each time a movement is declared on NCTS5.

Using the Government Gateway

Users that submit their transit declarations via the Government Gateway will need to manually input the Authorisation Reference Number for each transit declaration.

Using Commercial Software to submit Transit Movements:

If using commercial software to submit transit movements:

• Your software provider may configure the software to automatically input your Authorisation Reference Number, meaning that the Authorisation Reference Number field will be completed automatically for each transit declaration
• Your software provider may advise you as to how to configure your own software to input into the required field automatically.

It may therefore be prudent to share your Authorisation Reference Number with your software provider if either of the above apply to your business.

• Without either of the two options above, the user will be required to complete the required field by manual input of the Authorised Reference number for each transit movement.

The reference numbers should be well received before 20th May 2024.

If the user does not receive their Authorised Reference Number by this date, HMRC request that the user make contact with the NCTS Helpdesk asap: ncts.helpdesk@hmrc.gov.uk

A link to the NCTS Newsletters is below for reference. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/community-common-transit-and-tir-newsletters

If you are interested in exploring this topic further, you might find it worthwhile to consider the training courses and live clinics offered by Strong & Herd LLP: