Overpaid import duty
You have three years to reclaim overpaid duty. Finding it is the hard part.
Reclaiming overpaid customs duty from HMRC is a well-defined process with a clear deadline. What stops most businesses is not the paperwork, though the routing catches people out. It is that nobody has looked line by line at what was declared, so the overpayment is never found before the window closes.
The deadlines, which differ by reason.
This is the part worth knowing first, because a claim you find late is worth nothing.
Two conditions that catch people out. The claim has to be worth more than £9 for goods imported after 31 December 2020, so very small single-entry claims are not worth filing on their own, though they add up across a year of declarations. And HMRC can extend a time limit in exceptional circumstances, giving fire or flood destroying your records as the example, so an out-of-time claim is worth a conversation rather than an assumption.
Which route applies to you.
Most people arrive at this expecting to fill in a form C285. For a business with an EORI number that is usually the wrong route now: the claim goes through the system the declaration was made in.
| Your situation | Where the claim goes |
|---|---|
| You have an EORI number and the declaration was made in the Customs Declaration Service | Claim in CDS. This covers most UK importers today. |
| The declaration was made in CHIEF | Claim in CHIEF, the system the declaration was made in. |
| You do not have an EORI number, or you are a private individual | Online form C285. This is what the form is for now. |
| A repayment under the Customs Duty Waiver Scheme, or correcting a declaration under it | Online form C285, even if you have an EORI number. |
| Goods moved into Northern Ireland that were treated as ‘at risk’ | Online form C285, and there is separate GOV.UK guidance for at-risk goods. |
| You are VAT registered and want overpaid import VAT back | Neither. See the note below: it goes through your VAT return. |
| A customs agent, freight forwarder or express operator is claiming for you | They can, using your EORI number and the supporting documents. |
Overpaid import VAT does not go through either route if you are VAT registered. HMRC is explicit: you cannot reclaim overpaid import VAT using the C285 form or the online services. You adjust your VAT return instead, reducing the output tax due in Box 1, and keep records supporting the claim. It cannot be recovered as input tax, because overpaid import VAT was never due to HMRC in the first place. So a review that finds both overpaid duty and overpaid import VAT produces two claims down two different routes.
What you need for a duty claim: an EORI number, the Movement Reference Number for the declaration, your contact details, and UK bank account details, since a repayment can only be paid to a UK account. For an overpayment specifically, a commercial invoice showing the value of the imported goods and the amount that should have been paid to HMRC. Packing lists and transport documents are optional support. HMRC aims to decide within 30 days.
Two things that go elsewhere entirely. Rejected imports are a separate claim with its own process and a one-year limit, not an overpayment claim. And goods delivered by Parcelforce or Royal Mail use form BOR286 rather than any of the above.
Time limits, thresholds, routes and evidence above are from HMRC's guidance on how to claim a repayment of import duty and VAT if you have overpaid and refunds and waivers on customs debt. Check GOV.UK before you file, since the detail changes.
The part nobody helps with: finding it.
HMRC will tell you how to claim. It will not tell you that you overpaid. Nothing in the process flags an overpayment, no statement arrives showing what you should have paid, and your broker has no reason to revisit an entry that cleared without incident. So the overpayment sits in the data until somebody looks.
These are the four things we find most often, and each one is visible in your own declaration data if you compare it against the tariff that applied on the day.
A preference that was available and not claimed
The goods qualified under a trade agreement, the paperwork existed, and the entry went in at the third-country rate anyway. Usually because whoever completed the declaration did not know the preference applied to that code and origin on that date.
Misclassification onto a higher-duty code
The commodity code used was defensible but not correct, and the correct one carries a lower rate. This is the most common single cause we see, and it tends to repeat across every shipment of the same product, which is what turns a small per-entry difference into a material claim.
A valuation that included something it should not
Duty is charged on the customs value. Where freight, insurance or other elements have been included that the valuation rules do not require, the duty is overstated on every affected line.
A quota or suspension that was open and unused
Tariff quotas and autonomous suspensions reduce or remove duty for a period. If one was open when your goods arrived and the entry did not claim it, the difference is recoverable.
Why the three-year window matters more than it looks. A repeating error is worth three years of it, not one entry. That is also the window HMRC can look back over for an underpayment, so the same review that finds your reclaim finds the exposure pointing the other way. Both are part of your duty under management.
Everything you need is in the CDS reports HMRC gives you free. Our guide to requesting them covers the route, and if you would rather not do the analysis by hand, we have written up honestly what that involves.
If you would rather we ran it.
CAT360 finds the overpayments. Separately, and optionally, the Barbourne Brook customs team can manage the claim with HMRC on your behalf.
You pay only if we recover. The reclaims service is charged on a contingent fee basis, agreed in your contract. If no reclaim is found, or nothing is recovered, there is no fee. To date we have recovered over £6 million in overpaid duty for clients.
It is optional. Taking the reclaims service is not a condition of using CAT360, and using CAT360 is not a condition of the reclaims service. Plenty of customers find the overpayment in the platform and file the claim themselves, which is a perfectly good outcome.
The people who run the claim are practising customs consultants, several from Big Four backgrounds, and they are the same people whose checks are encoded in the platform. That matters at the point where a claim gets a question back from HMRC.
Questions
How far back can I reclaim overpaid customs duty?
Three years from notification of the debt, for an overpayment. Rejected imports are one year and withdrawing a declaration is 90 days. HMRC can extend a limit in exceptional circumstances, and gives the example of a fire or flood destroying your records.
Do I still use form C285?
Usually not, if you are a business with an EORI number: the claim goes through the system the declaration was made in, so CDS for most importers today and CHIEF where it was filed there. Online form C285 is for five cases: you have no EORI number registered to you, you are a private individual, you are claiming import VAT while not VAT registered and without an EORI, you are claiming or correcting a declaration under the Customs Duty Waiver Scheme, or the goods were moved into Northern Ireland as ‘at risk’.
How do I reclaim overpaid import VAT?
Not through either of the duty routes, if you are VAT registered. HMRC says plainly that you cannot use the C285 form or the online services for it. You adjust your VAT return, reducing the output tax due in Box 1, and keep the records that support it. It is not recoverable as input tax, because the overpaid VAT was never due. If you are not VAT registered and have no EORI, that is one of the cases where C285 does apply.
Is there a minimum claim value?
Yes. The claim must be more than £9 for goods imported after 31 December 2020. That rules out filing a trivial single entry, but a repeating error across a year of declarations is rarely trivial once it is added up.
Will HMRC pay interest on the repayment?
Do not count on it. HMRC withdrew its guidance on refunds of late payment interest on customs debt in October 2025 because that scheme has closed. Treat the repayment itself as the recovery.
Can my broker claim on my behalf?
Yes. A customs agent, freight forwarder or express operator can claim for the importer, using your EORI number and the supporting documents. Worth knowing that they are unlikely to volunteer it, because the overpayment is usually only visible to someone reviewing the declaration afterwards.
What evidence does a claim need?
A commercial invoice showing the value of the imported goods and the amount that should have been paid to HMRC. Packing lists and transport documents can support it. What HMRC will not accept is an assertion without the entry behind it, which is why a finding needs to name the declaration line.
How long does HMRC take?
It aims to decide within 30 days of receiving the claim.
Do I have to use your reclaims service to use CAT360?
No, and the reverse is also true. The reclaims service is optional and separately agreed. You are free to find the overpayment in the platform and file the claim yourself.
Find out what is reclaimable before the window closes.
Run CAT360 over three years of your own declarations and see what was overpaid, with each finding cited to the legal source and the declaration line, which is what a claim needs. 14 days, no card required.