Short shipments occur when some or all of the goods are not unloaded from a vessel on import as intended. HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) has published a guide, which can be found HERE, explaining how to declare goods that are short shipped on import at temporary storage locations.
Differentiating between full and partial short shipment, the guide states that the former is when all the goods intended to be unloaded are not unloaded from a vessel and arrive at a later date. Where a full short shipment happens and the goods are put into temporary storage (when they are not declared to a customs procedure prior to importation) no action is needed.
With regard to when partial short shipment occurs, with the goods being put into temporary storage (when they are not declared to a customs procedure prior to importation), the trader should amend the inventory record to show the number of units or weight of goods that have been unloaded.
A new inventory record will be needed for later short shipped arrivals. The arrived customs declaration must then be made against the correct inventory record.
Where short-shipped goods are declared at a later date, this must be identified on the declaration using the Additional Information (AI) statement “GEN45” followed by free text “SHORT” in data element 2/2. The electronic Movement Reference Number (MRN) of the original declaration is also required in D/E 2/1 for any later short-shipped arrivals.
Failure to declare “GEN45” and “SHORT” or reference the previous MRN for short-shipped goods will mean the declaration will contain an inaccuracy and HMRC may take compliance action.
With regard to customs clearance, HMRC states: “You can withdraw your pre-lodged declaration on the Customs Declaration Service (CDS) before you receive your final tax calculation (known as DMSTAX). In this case you may need to use C21i APC code 91U to clear the inventory record created for the goods.”
However, a new inventory record must be created when the short-shipped goods arrive and this will be treated as a new movement with normal customs process then having to be followed.
