Introduction to Intrastat

As of 1 January 2022, Intrastat now only applies for movements of goods between Northern Ireland and the European Union (EU). Movements between Great Britain (England, Scotland and Wales) and the EU are no longer covered by Intrastat.

The Intrastat exemption thresholds are:

• £500,000 for arrivals (NI imports from EU)
• £250,000 for dispatches (NI exports to EU)

The delivery terms threshold remain at £24,000,000.

New requirements for Dispatches

In June 2021, it was announced that two additional pieces of information would be required on your Intrastat Dispatches declaration:

• Partner VAT ID
• Country of Origin

Partner VAT ID

This is a combination of the country code and the VAT number of the partner operator (buyer / receiver of goods).

This will be the VAT number of the customer to whom the goods are dispatched. The format you need to provide, is the two-digit alpha country code of the EU member state where your customer belongs, followed by their VAT number. For example, FR12345678901, NL123456789B01, CY12345678X, EL123456789.

Note: The Partner VAT ID for Greece is always prefixed with the code ‘EL’, and not ‘GR’.

You should have the EU VAT number of your customer as part of your VAT records.

A list of EU country codes is provided in Section 6 of Notice 60. EU VAT registration numbers can be verified using the Europa website VIES VAT number validation or by contacting the VAT helpline.

Check the format of EU VAT numbers.

For triangular transactions, where the invoiced customer is in a different member state to that where the goods are dispatched, the VAT number of the person who receives the goods should be used. If you do not know this, then the VAT number of the invoiced customer should be used.

If you dispatch goods to private individuals or non-VAT registered businesses, you should use the code QV999999999999. However, this is the only time that you can use this code.

Country of Origin

This will be the two-digit alpha code for the country where the goods are deemed to originate from that you have now subsequently dispatched onwards from Northern Ireland.

Country of Origin (CoO) refers to the country where they were originally wholly manufactured or produced.

For goods produced in more than one country, the CoO will be the country where the last substantial economic transformation took place. This means the country where the goods last underwent processing which resulted in a change in the goods’ Harmonised System level 4 (HS4) commodity code. For example, if car components and parts (HS4 8708) started off in France but were assembled into a finished car (HS4 8703) in Germany then for the purposes of your declaration you would enter the code for Germany (DE).

Work which does not result in a change in the goods’ HS4 commodity code, such as splitting consignments or repackaging goods, will not be enough to affect the goods’ CoO.

The EU Commission provides further information regarding substantial transformation for different types of goods. If still undecided on the CoO of your goods you can contact the Customs Helpline.

Please note, CoO information is required purely for statistical purposes rather than part of your Customs requirements.

You will still need to provide CoO information if the goods originate in the UK. You must use code XI if the goods originated in Northern Ireland, and XU if the goods originated in Great Britain (England, Scotland and Wales).

Where the goods originate from outside of the UK, the appropriate country code for the country must be used. Details of EU country codes can be found in Notice 60. Details of country codes for the rest of the world can be found in Annex I of Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2020/1470.