UK to crackdown on cheap imports
Key Points
- The UK government will scrap customs duty relief on low value imports by October 2028, six months earlier than planned.
- Goods valued at £135 or less will become subject to customs import duties under the reform first announced at Budget 2025.
- The change is intended to ensure fairer competition between high street and online retailers.
- The government will publish a consultation response and begin legislating in this year's Finance Bill.
- Exchequer Secretary Dan Tomlinson said the action tackles unfair competition damaging the high street.
The government will accelerate plans to remove customs duty relief on low value imports, bringing the reform forward by six months in a move aimed at protecting the high street from online competition.
Under changes first announced at Budget 2025, customs duty relief on low value imports will be scrapped, meaning goods valued at £135 or less will become subject to customs import duties.
The government confirmed on Tuesday (23 June) that it will accelerate delivery of the reforms to October 2028 at the latest, six months earlier than previously planned, following representations from industry.
The Treasury said the change is intended to ensure fairer competition between high street and online retailers, while giving businesses involved in the sale and movement of low-value goods time to prepare and avoid border disruption.
The government will publish a consultation response shortly and begin legislating for the reforms in this year’s Finance Bill.
The measure forms part of a wider package of tax and customs reforms announced to Parliament, which the government said is designed to make the system fairer, simpler and digital first.
Alongside the import changes, ministers are reviewing how VAT is collected from businesses trading through online marketplaces, with revenue raised earmarked for improvements to the business rates system for pubs, restaurants, hotels and other high street businesses.
Dan Tomlinson, Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury, said the action tackles unfair competition and dishonest businesses damaging the high street, and that ensuring tax is paid when it is owed allows the government to raise revenue to reinvest in the business rates system.
The reforms sit alongside measures to tackle VAT non-compliance on online marketplaces and a consultation on software standards designed to prevent electronic sales suppression, commonly known as till fraud.
