Postponed VAT Accounting (PVA) Guidance

9 Dec 2020

HMRC updated two pages in respect of the PVA guidance on Friday 4th December:

Check when you can account for import VAT on your VAT Return 
Complete your VAT Return to account for import VAT 

The update includes  

  • clarification of the PVA rules for Non-established taxable persons 
  • information about goods in customs special procedures and excise goods 
  • links to guidance on consignments not exceeding £135 in value  
  • key points on how to complete customs declarations when using PVA 
  • clarification on how to complete boxes on the VAT return including how to estimate VAT in the absence of a monthly statement. 

'We expect you are keen to know more about the process for importers to access their import VAT statements. That service will be opened shortly when the Customs Declaration Service (CDS) service is opened more widely. In the meantime, here is some information about how it will work. 

When the service opens, we will publish a new PVA page on GOV.UK: ‘Get your postponed import VAT statement’. From there, importers can access the statement service.   

Businesses that already have access to CDS will go from the new page, straight to a PVA statement page. They will be able to view and download their statements online, once the statements have been created.   

Businesses without access to CDS will be automatically directed to subscribe to CDS first.   

Note that for CHIEF users, this subscription to CDS will only allow them to access their postponed import VAT Statements. They can continue to use CHIEF to make customs declarations.   

The CDS application process is straightforward and takes only a few minutes.  Once the application has been processed and accepted, the importer can access their PVA statement page. The new online monthly statements are not available yet. So users accessing the service will go to a landing page that says, “There are no statements available to view yet.”  

From 1 January 2021, when an importer completes the customs declaration (on CHIEF or CDS) and indicates that they’ll be accounting for import VAT on their VAT Return, that import VAT will be shown on their monthly statement.   Statements will be published online in the first half of the month and will show the total import VAT postponed in the previous month. The attached mock-up of a statement will give you an idea of what they will look like.   

We will write to you again when the statement service goes live. You may wish to encourage importers to get access to the service right away as part of their preparations for the end of the transition period.'