By Tom Sommer on Small Business – Advice and Ideas for UK Small Businesses and SMEs
A survey released by the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) in January surveying SMEs found that nearly half (49 per cent) of businesses exporting into Europe reported difficulties in adapting to new rules post-Brexit.
Eight months on, feelings of uncertainty are still rife; a recent UK poll showed that because of changes in VAT on cross-border trade, 65 per cent of small business owners have been put off taking orders from EU customers. Fifty-six per cent report this is due to not understanding changes in rules.
On top of this, confusion has been further exacerbated by Covid, which saw a pandemic-fuelled rise in internet shopping, forcing businesses to re-evaluate their supply chain management.
To enable businesses more time to adjust to the new regulations, under current Government guidelines customs requirements for imports have been “simplified”. Traders are allowed to make a delayed supplementary import declaration, submitting full EU import declarations will be mandatory from 1 January 2022. Since then, there have been further delays surrounding the legislative changes scheduled for the 1st of October amid reports of food shortages.
The delayed onset of changes this October was both expected