What is postponed VAT accounting for imports?
Answered 11 March 2026
Here is a comprehensive explanation of Postponed VAT Accounting (PVA) for imports, based on the available sources:
Postponed VAT Accounting (PVA) for Imports
What the law says
Postponed VAT Accounting is governed by the Value Added Tax (Accounting Procedures for Import VAT for VAT Registered Persons and Amendment) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019, which provide for a system of PVA on the importation of goods. This secondary legislation was introduced under Section 51 of the Taxation (Cross-border Trade) Act 2018 and creates an exception to the treatment of VAT as if it were a duty of customs under Section 16(1) VATA 1994.
Under the Regulations, only a registered person who is liable for import VAT on relevant goods may use PVA.
HMRC guidance / practice
What is PVA?
PVA was introduced on 1 January 2021. It allows a UK VAT-registered importer to account for import VAT on their VAT Return, rather than paying it immediately at the border or through a duty deferment account.
Who can use it?
- UK VAT-registered businesses importing goods into Great Britain (England, Scotland and Wales) from anywhere outside the UK, or into Northern Ireland from outside the UK and EU.
- No prior authorisation is required — businesses simply make the appropriate entry on their customs declaration.
- Importers who are not VAT registered, or who would be unable to treat the import VAT as input tax (e.g. because they are not the owner of the goods), are NOT permitted to use PVA.
How does it work in practice?
- When PVA is selected on the customs declaration, the VAT amount appears on a Monthly Postponed Import VAT Statement (MPIVS), which businesses must access via the CDS financial dashboard.
- The MPIVS provides the VAT amounts to be:
- Declared as output tax in Box 1 of the VAT Return, and
- Reclaimed as input tax in Box 4 of the VAT Return (subject to normal input tax rules).
- In the ordinary course of events, where import VAT is postponed on goods used to make taxable supplies, the entry of the postponed VAT on the VAT return cancels itself out.
Alternative if not using PVA:
If a business does not use PVA, it must pay VAT when the goods are imported, or defer payment via a duty deferment account if approved. In that case, input tax is reclaimed using the HMRC form C79 (import VAT certificate) rather than the MPIVS.
Intermediaries:
Where importers use intermediaries to complete customs declarations, there should be a written agreement confirming how import VAT will be accounted for. The decision to use PVA is for the importer to make, not the intermediary.
Citation sources
pply the relevant special procedure but choose to pay the import taxes applicable at import, including import VAT. If a business chooses not to use a special procedure, then the standard import procedure must be followed, and any import VAT can only be deducted by the correct entity. For further information on Customs special procedures see https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/pay-less-or-no-duty-on-goods-you-store-repair-process-or-temporarily-use Postponed VAT accounting From 1 January 20
lies. There is no evidence that the good on which the Import VAT was incurred were used to make taxable supplies or that the Import VAT was accounted for on a VAT return. Conclusions 29. SBA was a director of both Best Cosmetics and UK Best. As such he authorised FFCLL to use the EORI for Best Cosmetics on imports and to claim PVA. Best Cosmetics is therefore liable to account for the postponed VAT in its VAT returns. 30. The entries using the EORI for Best Cosmetics with which I am concerned st
PVA was introduced in January 2021. It allows a VAT registered importer to account for the relevant import VAT on their VAT return rather than paying it immediately or through their duty deferment account and reclaiming it as input tax using the HMRC form C79. Where PVA is chosen (and notified) on a customs declaration, the VAT amount will appear on a Monthly Postponed Import VAT Statement (MPIVS), which businesses must access via the CDS financial dashboard. The MPIVS provides them with the VA
monthly VAT statement that the trader will access digitally. They will use the statement to provide them with the amount of import VAT to be accounted for in box 1 of their VAT return and the amount that can be reclaimed as input VAT in box 4 of their VAT return (subject to the normal rules). More guidance on the use of PVA is available in Check when you can account for import VAT on your VAT Return and in subsequent pages of guidance.
When goods are imported into the UK from outside the UK, VAT is normally due at the same rate as on a supply of those goods in the UK. From 1 January 2021, if your business is registered for VAT in the UK, you’ll be able to account for import VAT on your VAT Return for goods you import into: Great Britain (England, Scotland and Wales) from anywhere outside the UK Northern Ireland from outside the UK and EU Read para 19.2.4 Account for import VAT on your VAT Return (also called postponed VAT acco
gent acts as an indirect agent (and see also section 37(8)(b)). (5) In that case, the indirect agent is liable to import duty in accordance with section 6(1) (and the principal is also liable to import duty in accordance with section 6(3)(a)). (6) If a Customs agent acts as a direct agent, the agent is also liable to import duty if— (a) the agent acts at time when the appointment has not been disclosed to HMRC as mentioned in subsection (2), (b) the agent acts at a time when the appointment of t