AUDIT READINESS

Do you know where HMRC would look first?

BorderAudit gives you a live 0–100 audit-readiness score across six risk dimensions — calculated from your actual declaration data, so you see the gaps before HMRC does.

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AUDIT READINESS RADARILLUSTRATIVE
62MODERATE RISK0–100 COMPOSITE
PREFERENCE EVIDENCECLASSIFICATIONVALUATIONCUSTOMS PROCEDURESDATA ERRORSAGENT CONCENTRATION
SIX DIMENSIONS · DUTY-AT-RISK PER CATEGORY · UPDATED FROM YOUR DECLARATIONS
FINANCE DIRECTORS

You sign the accounts. Have you seen what's being declared to HMRC in your company's name?

CUSTOMS & OPS MANAGERS

Your agents file thousands of entries a year. The entries — and the errors in them — are your liability, not theirs.

NEVER BEEN AUDITED

No letter yet doesn't mean no exposure. It means the clock hasn't started.

THE SIX DIMENSIONS

Six places an auditor looks. One score.

In a post-clearance audit, HMRC (His Majesty's Revenue & Customs) reviews declarations that have already cleared the border. BorderAudit scores the same six dimensions an auditor examines — and shows the specific entries behind each score.

▲ Preference evidence
Claims you can't evidence
Preferential duty rates claimed under trade agreements are only as strong as the origin evidence behind them. Missing or expired proofs are the first thing an auditor asks to see.
▲ Classification
Codes that don't hold up
Commodity codes set years ago and copied forward ever since. One misclassification changes the duty rate on every entry that inherited it.
▲ Valuation
Values that don't reconcile
Freight, royalties, assists and discounts handled inconsistently across the customs value — small per-entry gaps that compound across a full import book.
▲ Customs procedures
Procedures left open
Special procedures and reliefs suspend or remove duty — until the paperwork discipline slips and the relief fails on inspection.
▲ Data errors
Inconsistent declaration data
17% of UK declarations contain errors. Mismatched weights, currencies and codes are exactly the pattern an auditor uses to justify digging deeper.
▲ Agent concentration
One agent, most of your book
When a single customs agent files most of your entries, one repeated mistake replicates across your whole declaration history — in your name.
HOW THE SCORE WORKS

From declaration data to a readiness score — in four steps.

01
STEP 01

Connect your declaration data

Securely share your customs entries — MSS (Management Support System) data from HMRC, a broker feed, or a simple export. No new system to adopt.

02
STEP 02

Get your score

All six dimensions are scored from your actual declarations — a 0–100 composite, banded from low to critical, with duty-at-risk quantified per category over the multi-year window HMRC can assess.

03
STEP 03

Read the findings

Critical findings in plain English — not just a number, but the specific declaration patterns behind it, ranked by what an auditor would pursue first.

04
STEP 04

Review before HMRC asks

Turn the score into a readiness review: sample your riskiest entries, collect the evidence, and close with a documented report. Premium includes a scheduled review every quarter.

WHAT YOU GET

Readiness as a standing state, not a scramble.

Live score
A live 0–100 readiness score
One number for your whole import book, recalculated from your actual declaration data — not a questionnaire you fill in once a year.
Duty at risk
Duty-at-risk, quantified
Exposure priced per risk category, over the same multi-year window HMRC can assess — so you know what each gap could cost.
Plain English
Critical findings, spelt out
Not just a score: the specific declaration patterns behind it, described in plain English so finance and operations act on the same facts.
Trended
Every dimension, trended
Each of the six categories is scored and trended over time, so you see drift the moment it starts — not after it compounds.
Quarterly reviews
Scheduled readiness reviews
Premium subscribers get a documented readiness review every quarter, with reminders so entitlements never lapse unused.
Reclaim flow
Findings flow into reclaims
Readiness findings that show overpaid duty flow directly into the reclaim workflow — nothing is double-keyed, nothing is lost.
THE NUMBERS

The scale behind the score.

UK customs · figures to date
17%
Of UK declarations contain errors
4.4M
Declaration lines analysed per day
£4.7m
Duty identified & reclaimed to date
200+
Businesses on the platform
FREE AUDIT

Find out what your score would say.

Start with the free audit. Tell us who you are and we'll confirm your import footprint from UK trade data, then model what a full readiness assessment would surface — the risk dimensions to check first and the entries worth a closer look.

●No commitment
●No data upload to start
●UK & EU customs
The letter has already arrived? See the HMRC audit product →
STEP 1/3

Check your import status

Enter your VAT number or business name — we'll check HMRC, Companies House and UK trade data for your import activity.

FAQ

Preparing for a customs audit, answered.

How do I prepare for an HMRC customs audit?
Start where HMRC starts: your declaration history. Pull your import data — MSS (Management Support System) data from HMRC, or an export from your broker — and check the six areas an auditor examines: preference evidence, classification, valuation, customs procedures, data errors and agent concentration. Fix what you find, keep documentary evidence of the fixes, and repeat regularly. BorderAudit automates this as a live readiness score, so preparation becomes a standing state rather than a scramble when a letter arrives.
What does HMRC look at during a customs audit?
A post-clearance audit reviews declarations that have already cleared. HMRC typically examines commodity-code classification, the declared customs value (including freight, royalties and assists), preferential-origin claims and the evidence behind them, the use of special procedures and reliefs, and the overall consistency of your declaration data — including entries filed by customs agents in your name. The importer remains responsible for those entries, whoever filed them.
How far back can HMRC go in a customs audit?
HMRC can generally issue a post-clearance demand up to three years after the original declaration — and considerably further where errors were deliberate. BorderAudit's readiness score analyses a multi-year declaration window matching the horizon HMRC can assess, so older entries that could still be examined stay in scope.
What is an audit readiness score?
A 0–100 composite score calculated from your actual declaration data. Each of the six risk dimensions is scored and trended, duty-at-risk is quantified per category, and the overall result is banded from low to critical. It shows where an auditor would look first — it is not a prediction of whether HMRC will audit you, and no score can guarantee an audit outcome.
What is included in a readiness review?
A readiness review turns the score into a documented exercise: your highest-risk entries are sampled, the supporting evidence is collected and validated, and the findings are written up in a formal report — before HMRC asks. Premium subscribers get a scheduled readiness review every quarter. Where a review surfaces overpaid duty, the finding flows directly into a reclaim.
Is there a customs audit checklist I can follow?
Yes — the working checklist is the six dimensions. Can you produce origin evidence for every preference claim? Do your commodity codes still hold? Does your customs valuation reconcile, entry by entry? Are special procedures properly discharged? Is your declaration data internally consistent? And do you know how concentrated your entries are with a single agent? BorderAudit runs that checklist automatically across every declaration and keeps the answer current.

Know before HMRC asks.

Run a free audit and take back control of your declaration history — one score, six dimensions, and the specific entries to fix first. Free to start, no card required.

Start your free auditborderaudit.io