Global Trade Live: Preparing for a customs audit

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Duty Optimisation and Risk Reduction Review

Managing customs duties and compliance is complex. Without clear visibility, you risk inaccurate duty calculations, penalties and fragmented supply chain control. 

By accessing your CDS data, which from April can be downloaded for free from HMRC, we can analyse which duties and taxes you’ve been paying. This will help us identify underpayments and overpayments, and optimise your overall duty exposure. 

Our Duty Optimisation and Risk Reduction Review gives you clarity and control. Using data-driven analysis and expert consultancy, we identify potential misclassification of goods, uncover duty-saving opportunities, and provide compliance dashboards—helping you streamline processes, reduce risk, and protect your bottom line. 

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How does it work?

Each month, your customs data is securely uploaded into our MyCustomsInfo platform, where it is consolidated and analysed. Our experts then review the findings, validate commodity classifications, and identify optimisation opportunities.

You’ll receive a clear, tailored report with quantified benefits, risk alerts, and practical recommendations—along with dashboards that give you full visibility of compliance status and duty exposure. This process is remote, non-disruptive, and backed by expert guidance, so you can act confidently and keep your operations running smoothly.

What you’ll receive

  • Clear, consolidated customs data for full visibility and control.  
  • Identification of potential commodity misclassifications to prevent costly errors and penalties.  
  • Duty-saving strategies that unlock cash flow and reduce exposure.  
  • Actionable compliance report with dashboards and next steps. 

Who will benefit from using our Duty Optimisation and Risk Reduction Review?

Whatever your role is in international trade, our advisory services are invaluable across all areas of customs compliance. Our advisory services are particularly useful in the following industry sectors:

Food and Beverage
Importers and Exporters
Pharmaceuticals
Third-Party Logistics Providers
Manufacturing
Retail and Consumer Goods

FAQs

It fixes visibility gaps in customs data and duty calculations. We identify potential overpayments, underpayments and reclaim opportunities, strengthen controls, and provide a single source of truth—reducing financial exposure while improving cash flow and audit readiness.

MyCustomsInfo consolidates your customs data from CDS Reports into clean, analysable sets and dashboards. We then layer expert consultancy on top - turning data into action able insights that streamline operations, strengthen compliance, and improve financial efficiency.

  • Executive summary & quantified benefits (savings, avoided penalties, cashflow impact).

  • Duty optimisation report (misclassifications, origin preference checks, valuation findings, Incoterms and supply chain insights).

  • Risk register & remediation plan with owners, timelines, and KPIs.

  • Governance pack (updated SOPs, customs intermediary instructions, control checklists).

  • Dashboards for compliance status, potential duty exposure and classification risk. 

No. The data is uploaded into MyCustomsInfo on a monthly basis and a formal report of analysis is returned by the end of the month. This is offline and does not impact your operations.

Yes. We can provide reporting across multiple sites and regions, with the ability to segment by EORI number and generate performance reports at a site level.

Absolutely. We assist with live audit response (document collation, issue analysis, responses), quantify exposure, propose corrective actions HMRC typically recognises, and implement controls to demonstrate reasonable care and due diligence.

  • Reduction in findings and faster audit closure.

  • Fewer shipment holds and broker rework.

  • Verified savings (reclaims, preference claims) and improved cash flow.

  • Control maturity scores and exception trend downshifts on dashboards.

A customs intermediary files entries; ERPs record them. We validate declarations end‑to‑end, detect errors and potential savings, and implement control improvements (policies, SOPs, training). That's how we deliver regulatory assurance and measurable financial protection.

  • Import/export declaration data (e.g., codes, values, origin).

  • Commodity code classification accuracy.

  • Valuation methods (assists, royalties, transfer pricing impacts).

  • Rules of origin and preference claims.

  • Special procedures usage (e.g., IP/OP, Customs Warehousing).

  • Customs Intermediary performance and exception trends across sites/regions.

  • Incoterms.

Depending on how in-depth an analysis is required it can take between 1 - 5 days on a monthly basis to analyse the data and produce a report of recommendations.

You can expect value in three key areas: Immediate savings through corrected classifications and preferential duty claims; Cash recovery via eligible duty and/or VAT reclaims; Risk reduction by minimising penalties and shipment delays – helping to protect margins and safeguard your brand reputation.

Secure data rooms, role‑based access, data minimisation, and full audit trails. We only request the fields necessary to test classification, valuation, and origin logic and to produce compliant evidence.

A small core team: Trade/Customs, Finance, Operations/Logistics, and IT/Data.

You'll have a clear remediation plan, updated controls, and dashboards. We can support ongoing assurance such as data reviews, and spot checks to keep governance strong and deliver sustained value.

Yes—our qualifications are structured around capability development for different roles in customs and trade, ensuring teams responsible for classification, valuation, origin and customs intermediary management, are trained to a recognised professional standard.

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To find out more about our Duty Optimisation and Risk Reduction Review please complete this form. We'll be in touch to discuss your needs.

📞 New enquiries

Interested in our services or looking to join.

+44 (0)1733 404 410

Mon-Fri 9am-5pm, Saturday 10am-4pm (excl. bank holidays).

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+44 (0)1733 404 400

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