Your customs agent can make your UK importing effortless, or cause most of your problems. The difference is usually down to how the relationship is set up, how well the agent is briefed, and revisiting standing instructions. As an overseas business, there are a couple of things you need to know before you start.
In short: as an overseas business you must appoint a UK-established customs agent to act as your indirect representative, and that agent becomes jointly and severally liable for the customs duty and import VAT. That liability is why some agents decline postponed VAT accounting or push “fake DDP” terms. Briefing your agent correctly from the start (Incoterms®, importer of record, your VAT-linked EORI, and electing PVA) prevents most of the problems we see. We draft those instructions and deal with your agent for you.
If you are established outside the UK, you cannot make your own customs declarations directly, you can only appoint someone to act indirectly on your behalf, and that someone must be established in the UK. Acting as your indirect representative, the agent is:
You also remain responsible for due diligence on your declarations, even though the agent keys them. So the agent is not a ‘black box’ you can hand everything over to and forget about; it is a relationship you need to set up properly.
That joint liability is the root of the friction. Because the agent can be left carrying the customs duty and / or import VAT, some:
None of this means DDP does not work; it means the agent relationship has to be set up with eyes open.
Most problems disappear when the agent is given clear instructions up front:
Author: Michelle Lawrence (customs).
Reading time: about 4 minutes.
Sources (verified 12 Aug 2026): Get someone to deal with customs for you (indirect representation for non-UK-established businesses); Customs debt liability.
If you are established outside the UK, yes: you can only appoint an agent to act indirectly, and they must be UK-established.
Because as your indirect representative they are jointly liable for the import VAT, so some are cautious. It is usually resolvable. We do this often.
Yes. We draft the instructions and deal with the agent directly, so you are not stuck in the middle.
If your customs agent is making UK importing harder than it should be, contact our customs team and we will get the relationship set up properly.
Associate Director
VAT
Director
Head of Indirect Tax & HR
