January 2010

Welcome to CCL's January 2010 newsletter

Welcome to the January 2010 newsletter from Customs Clearance Ltd. In the UK several days of snowfall and sub-zero temperatures have interfered with our daily and business lives over the last few weeks. It’s been a challenge here and there, but now the snow has mostly gone, things have got back to normal.

In total contrast to chilly London, we had a great time at the 2nd WCA Family Annual Worldwide Conference, from 14-17 January in the heady atmosphere of Bangkok, Thailand. The conference was really busy, with tight schedules both on and off site. The hotel was excellent, with the event spread across several floors. We ‘worked the room’ as they say, and found lots of friendly and approachable delegates to connect with. Will we win new business from our new contacts? Only time will tell. If we spoke to you (or even if we didn’t!), and you have any questions, be sure to get in touch.

Our special mentions this month are all new-found friends from the Bangkok conference:

Len Bacarella of BTX Air Express (www.btxair.com); Joey Chiang, Winnie Su and Doris Zhang (pictured here with Rudee) from Honesty Cargo (Hong Kong) (www.honestycargo.com); Dicky Yan from Xiamen Infinity Logistics Co Ltd (www.xminfinity.com), Rachida Ciesielska of FCI - France Cargo International CIE (www.fci-cie.com) and Paul Curtis from Linc Freight Management (www.lincgroup.co.uk). It was a real pleasure to meet you all and whether or not we do business together in the future, we shall always remain friends and associates.

We hope you find this issue of value, and don’t forget, for any customs and importation queries, make our friendly and approachable Customer Services team on +44 (0)20 8231 0900 your first port of call.

Conference update: Our next port of call is the Triangle World Mail and Express Americas Conference and Exhibition, 22-23 February in Miami, Florida, USA; let us know if you’re planning to be there as we love the chance to meet up with clients, associates and other contacts whenever we can.

HMRC issues new notice on VAT liability for freight transport and associated services: An important new notice issued in December 2009 explains in detail the VAT liability of freight transport and related services. For purposes of this notice, ‘freight’ includes goods or cargo, mail, documents, unaccompanied vehicles and vehicles transported on ships, which are charged at a ‘driver accompanied’ rate. If you fall into any of these categories you should familiarise yourself with the contents of this notice, which can be accessed here.

VAT rules: A last reminder on this subject from CCL - don’t forget that changes to cross-border VAT rules came into effect from 1st January 2010. These changes set out to modernise and simplify the rules relating to cross-border supplies of services, make recovery of VAT on purchases made in other EU countries more efficient and help to counter VAT fraud. They represent a significant reform of the VAT regime applying to services and introduce important changes. To comply, businesses need to make changes to their VAT accounting and reporting processes. Find out more and assess whether these changes affect you on the HMRC web site here.

Don’t get scammed! HMRC regularly updates its list of active scams, where, for example, emails claiming to come from HMRC trick recipients into giving away their confidential data. Make sure you regularly check their updates here, and don’t get caught!

A credit crunch casualty: Japan Airlines (JAL) goes into administration. Sadly, it appears, no business, however substantial or well-established, is immune from the effects of the credit crunch.

A mini Coffee Break Story: Snow fun getting caught with no stock!

We hadn’t managed the clichéd “White Christmas” but after that it had snowed for days. I’d struggled into the shop, because I had to, only to find the shoppers were nowhere to be seen. It seemed pointless to run the usual January sale with the place deserted but I’d sent out the mailer, so those few people who braved the elements and showed up in their sheepskins and wellingtons were entitled to the discounts – and a mug of hot coffee too since they’d made such an effort. But the sale was going to have to run on a bit longer than usual if I was going to dump the rest of the old stock and make room for the new shipment.

But then the weather warmed up, the snow turned to slush and rain, and things got back to normal. I’d say normal, but with the pent-up demand (that’s what the news programmes call it anyway) we had a real flood of people through the door last weekend. So now the shelves are in desperate need of that new stock. Thankfully, I’m told it’s about to arrive.

So this morning, I get the call from the Customs guys at Heathrow. My shipment is in (hurrah!) but I need to get myself down to the sheds at the airport to sort out the paperwork and pick it up. Well, last time I did that, I remember, it took 4 hours to get it all sorted – that’s quite a bit of hanging around and a whole load of forms I worried I wasn’t completing properly. I’m also two staff down, courtesy of a bout of man-flu so I’d have to shut the shop to make the trip, and I can’t afford to lose another day’s trade after the last few weeks. So I’m looking for a solution, something to save me from jumping in the van and heading off to the airport. And I have to get it sorted fast too, as time is money for the customs guys and storage courtesy of their fine facility doesn’t come cheap.

There was only one way to do it. I picked up the phone to the guys at Customs Clearance Limited. Could they help me? Yes indeed, they could. They sorted out the customs clearance and collected my shipment that same morning and by mid-afternoon those lovely, fully loaded pallets were in my store. As fast as I unpacked the boxes and stacked the shelves, those shiny new treasures were being snapped up – and the cash tills just kept on ringing!