Customs warehousing is a procedure that enables the suspension of Import Duty and/or VAT, for imported non-EU goods by storing them in premises or under an inventory system authorised by Customs.

Companies can choose to store the goods at their own defined location (Private Warehouse), use their inventory sytem to control the goods or pay a 3rd party to store them in a defined location (Public Warehouse). A defined location can be a whole building, a small compartment in a building, an open site, a silo or a storage tank. The location or inventory system must be authorised by Customs before the Customs Warehouse procedure can be used.

Being able to suspend the payment of Import Duty and/or VAT, with no time restictions, can be very beneficial to companies, not least for cashflow reasons. Complying with the obligations to use the Customs Warehouse procedure can, though, be off-putting. Langdon Systems provide a Customs Warehouse module that has been designed to simplify the procedures for running either a public or private warehouse whilst taking advantage of the maximum benefits available.

The Warehouse Module manages the goods that are stored under the Customs Warehouse procedure. The sytem stores information about imported goods, and accounts for all issues made from these stocks. The information can be downloaded from a commercial system or manually entered. The system provides a declaration to Customs containing data related to the Duty and VAT calculations and statistical information for all issues.