Post-clearance audit support for UK, EU and US importers
Every customs declaration you have filed in the last three to five years is auditable. HMRC, Revenue and CBP are increasing scrutiny. MyCustomsInfo® audits your declarations proactively, identifies errors and prepares correction-ready documentation before the authorities find the problems for you.
We identify classification errors, valuation discrepancies, origin misstatements and underused preference schemes across CDS, AES and ACE. Your licensed broker files the correction. Per-tenant data isolation. Mutual NDA from day one.
What is a post-clearance audit?
A post-clearance audit (PCA) is the systematic examination of customs declarations, supporting documents and commercial records after goods have been released from customs control. Every major customs authority operates a PCA programme:
- •HMRC (UK) — Post-clearance audits under the Customs Act 2018, with a three-year retrospective window. HMRC announced 5,500 additional customs officers in 2025 and has publicly stated that post-clearance compliance activity is increasing.
- •Revenue (Ireland) — Audits under the Union Customs Code via the Automated Import System (AIS), three-year retrospective window.
- •EU member states — Post-clearance controls under UCC Article 48, with audit capacity varying by member state. Germany (Hauptzollamt), the Netherlands (Douane) and France (DGDDI) are particularly active.
- •US CBP — Focused Assessment programme and Compliance Assessment under 19 USC §1509, with a five-year lookback window. Penalties under 19 USC §1592 can reach four times the lost revenue for negligence.
The purpose of a PCA is to verify that the importer correctly declared the commodity classification (HS/TARIC/HTS code), the customs value (transaction value plus adjustments), the country of origin, the preference claim (if any), the customs procedure code and the quantity. Errors in any of these fields create either underpaid duty (which the authority will assess with interest and potential penalties) or overpaid duty (which the importer can reclaim through a formal correction).
Why proactive post-clearance audit, not reactive compliance
Most businesses only think about customs audit when they receive a notice from HMRC or CBP. By that point, the authority has already identified anomalies in your data and is asking you to justify them. The conversation starts on their terms.
A proactive post-clearance audit reverses this dynamic. You review your own declarations first, identify errors, and submit corrections through the formal voluntary disclosure or correction mechanisms that every customs authority provides. The benefits are concrete:
Reduced penalties
HMRC’s penalty framework explicitly rewards voluntary disclosure. A trader-initiated C285 correction typically attracts no penalty. An authority-initiated assessment on the same error carries penalties of 15% to 100% of the duty shortfall depending on culpability.
Duty recovery within the correction window
Overpaid duty is only recoverable within the statutory window: three years for UK and EU, 315 days (PSC) or 180 days (protest) for US. Every month you delay is a month of expired recovery opportunity.
Audit-ready documentation
When the authority does arrive, you present a complete audit trail: declarations, source documents, reconciliation reports and a history of corrections already filed. This reduces the scope and duration of the authority’s review.
AEO and compliance programme protection
AEO holders (UK), AEO-C/AEO-S (EU) and C-TPAT members (US) must demonstrate continuous compliance. A proactive PCA programme is evidence that you are meeting this obligation. The absence of one is a red flag.
What a post-clearance audit identifies
A thorough post-clearance audit examines every field on every declaration against the supporting commercial documentation. The most common findings, ranked by frequency and financial materiality, are:
Classification errors
The wrong HS code applied to the goods. This is the single largest source of both overpaid and underpaid duty. A 4-digit heading error can shift the duty rate by 10 percentage points or more. Post-Brexit, UK and EU tariff schedules have diverged on hundreds of subheadings, creating systematic misclassification risk for importers filing in both regimes.
Section 232 tariff classification auditValuation discrepancies
Customs value is the transaction value plus statutory adjustments for freight, insurance, royalties, assists and buying commissions (WTO Valuation Agreement, Article 1). Errors in declared value are common when the importer uses ex-works pricing and the broker applies freight and insurance estimates rather than actual costs. Overvaluation creates overpaid duty; undervaluation creates compliance risk.
Origin misstatements and underused preferences
Preferential rates under free trade agreements (UK-EU TCA, EU GSP, USMCA) are frequently unclaimed because the importer or broker did not hold the correct origin documentation at the time of entry. A post-clearance audit identifies entries where a preferential rate was available but not claimed, and quantifies the recoverable duty.
Duty recovery service for UK importersProcedure code errors
Incorrect customs procedure codes (CPC in the UK, additional procedure code in the EU) mean goods entered under the wrong relief or suspension scheme. IPR, OPR, temporary admission and returned goods relief all depend on correct procedure coding. Errors here create both financial exposure and compliance risk.
IEEPA, Section 301 and Section 232 tariff exposure (US)
US importers face stacking tariff regimes where multiple additional duties apply to the same entry. IEEPA tariffs, Section 301 China lists, Section 232 steel, aluminium and copper duties, and AD/CVD overlays compound on each other. A single misclassified subheading can flip a 0% rate to 25% or higher.
IEEPA tariff auditCBAM reporting gaps (EU and UK)
The EU CBAM definitive regime is live from January 2026, with certificate surrender from 2027. UK CBAM starts January 2027. Importers of iron, steel, aluminium, cement, fertiliser, hydrogen and electricity face embedded carbon reporting obligations that are linked to customs declarations. Gaps in CBAM data are increasingly surfacing during post-clearance audits.
CBAM compliance platformCorrection mechanisms by jurisdiction
Every customs regime provides formal mechanisms for correcting errors identified through post-clearance audit. The correction window and process differ by jurisdiction:
| Regime | Correction mechanism | Window | Authority | Legislation |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| UK CDS | C285 (Customs Duty Adjustment) | 3 years from acceptance | HMRC | Customs Act 2018, s.29 |
| EU UCC | Amendment / Invalidation (Art. 173/174) | 3 years from acceptance | Member state customs | UCC Regulation 952/2013 |
| Ireland | Revenue amendment via AIS | 3 years from acceptance | Revenue Commissioners | UCC + national implementing rules |
| US ACE | Post-Summary Correction (PSC) | 315 days from entry summary | US CBP | 19 CFR §10.112 |
| US ACE | Protest (19 USC §1514) | 180 days from liquidation | US CBP | 19 USC §1514 |
How MyCustomsInfo® supports post-clearance audit
MyCustomsInfo® is an independent compliance auditor. We do not file declarations, we do not act as a customs broker, and we do not submit corrections to any customs authority. We identify the errors. Your licensed broker or customs agent acts on the findings. This separation is architecturally enforced and legally required in regulated markets including the United States (19 USC §1641).
Data ingestion
Your declaration data is uploaded from CDS, AES, ACE or your broker's system into your dedicated, isolated MyCustomsInfo® tenant. Every client receives dedicated AWS infrastructure: a private S3 bucket, a customer-managed KMS key, an Aurora PostgreSQL schema with row-level security, and dedicated processing queues. No data is co-mingled with any other tenant under any failure mode.
Document reconciliation
Our FastNet™ Intelligent Document Processing engine extracts structured data from commercial invoices, bills of lading, certificates of origin, packing lists and broker worksheets. Each document is reconciled against the corresponding declaration fields: classification, value, origin, quantity and procedure code.
AI-powered compliance analysis
Piers, our AI risk-classification engine, analyses every declaration against the applicable tariff schedule, trade agreements, preferential rate eligibility, anti-dumping and countervailing duty orders, and special tariff programmes (IEEPA, Section 301, Section 232). Anomalies are flagged with a confidence score and a financial materiality estimate.
Compliance report and correction data
You receive a compliance report identifying every exception, the estimated financial impact (overpaid or underpaid), the applicable correction mechanism and the supporting evidence. For overpaid duty, the correction data and evidence pack are prepared ready for your broker to file the C285, PSC, protest or member state amendment.
Continuous monitoring
On an ongoing subscription, new declarations are audited as they are filed. Recurring errors (such as a systematically misclassified product or an undervalued freight component) are flagged as patterns so the root cause can be addressed with your broker, not just the individual declarations.
Compliance boundary: what we do and what we never do
What MyCustomsInfo® does
- ✓Audit declaration data against source documents
- ✓Identify classification, valuation and origin errors
- ✓Quantify overpaid and underpaid duty exposure
- ✓Prepare correction data and evidence packs
- ✓Monitor ongoing declarations for recurring errors
- ✓Maintain audit-ready documentation per-tenant
What MyCustomsInfo® never does
- ✗File or submit customs declarations
- ✗Submit corrections to any customs authority
- ✗Act as a customs broker in any jurisdiction
- ✗Determine or confirm HS classifications
- ✗Charge fees linked to individual entries (US)
- ✗Prepare or file CBP drawback claims
This boundary is not policy. It is architecture. See our trust and compliance credentials for full detail including US regulatory basis (CBP HQ H272798 and HQ H350722).
Who needs post-clearance audit support?
SME importers with 400+ declarations a year
If you file more than 400 customs declarations annually, the probability of classification or valuation errors across that volume is near certain. A single misclassified product line can create thousands of pounds in overpaid duty over a 3-year window.
Multi-jurisdiction importers
Filing in the UK, EU and US simultaneously means three different tariff schedules, three different preferential rate regimes and three different correction mechanisms. Errors in one jurisdiction often repeat in others.
Businesses using multiple brokers
Different brokers apply different classification judgements. Without a single audit layer across all brokers, inconsistencies go undetected. Post-clearance audit creates the oversight your brokers cannot provide for themselves.
AEO holders and C-TPAT members
AEO and C-TPAT require demonstrable continuous compliance. A proactive post-clearance audit programme is evidence of this. The absence of one is a finding in itself.
Related compliance topics
Declaration audit software
AI-powered customs declaration audit across UK, EU and US regimes
AEO audit software
Continuous compliance monitoring for Authorised Economic Operators
Customs broker audit
Independent audit of your broker's filing accuracy
IEEPA tariff audit
US tariff exposure tracking and protest window management
CBAM compliance
EU and UK carbon border adjustment reporting
Duty recovery
UK RGR, EU RGR, US drawback and overpayment recovery
Frequently asked questions about post-clearance audit
What is a post-clearance audit?+
What triggers a post-clearance audit from HMRC?+
How far back can HMRC audit my customs declarations?+
What is the difference between a trader-initiated audit and an authority-initiated audit?+
What documentation do I need for a post-clearance audit?+
Can I recover overpaid duty through a post-clearance audit?+
How does MyCustomsInfo® support post-clearance audit?+
Do I need a subscription to use post-clearance audit support?+
Start your post-clearance audit
Send us your annual declaration volume and jurisdiction mix. We will return a tailored quote within 48 hours. Mutual NDA and Data Processing Agreement executed before any data is exchanged.