The Government is urging businesses to sign up to the Trader Support Service (TSS) before the end of the Brexit transition period.

The new service provides a free-to-use digital platform to help businesses and traders of all sizes navigate the upcoming changes to the way goods moved under the Northern Ireland Protocol from 1 January 2021.

The service launched at the end of September and by the middle of November more than 7,000 businesses had signed up. HMRC are however, encouraging more businesses to follow suit.

The TSS contact centre, which is now open and providing guidance and training to help businesses prepare for 1 January, is designed to:

– enable traders to complete declarations without needing to purchase specialist software;
– save traders significant time in completing declarations;
– reduce traders’ declaration costs as the service is free-to-use.

From 1 January 2021 traders will need an Economic Operators Registration and Identification (EORI) number that starts with XI to:

– move goods between Northern Ireland and non-EU countries;
– move goods from Northern Ireland to Great Britain;
– make a customs declaration or get a customs decision in Northern Ireland.

Traders who signed up to the service before 23 November will automatically receive a unique XI EORI identifying number that will be required from January 2021. Those who register later may need to apply separately to be issued with this number.

Further information regarding the TSS and how to sign up can be found on the Government UK Transition website at https://www.tradersupportservice.co.uk/tss.