RESOURCES · CASE STUDIES

Real recoveries. Real results.

The duty these importers overpaid didn't announce itself — every entry cleared, every invoice was settled, and the cost sat quietly in their landed-cost line. Automated post-clearance audit of their own declaration data surfaced £447K in recoveries.

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£144K RGR · £82K quota · £221K preference — accepted by HMRC

THE RECOVERIES

Three importers. £447K back.

Three different failure modes — a missed relief, a missed quota entitlement, a missed preference — with the same shape: the overpayment was invisible until the declaration data was audited.

Fashion retail

£144K

Returned Goods Relief

Reclaim period2 years

Reclaim typeRGR

A mid-size fashion retailer with significant ecommerce returns was re-importing customer returns without claiming Returned Goods Relief. ML-powered analysis identified the return patterns — products they already owned, paying duty again on re-entry. Reclaim files were prepared and submitted to HMRC.

Manufacturing

£82K

Missed quota entitlement

Reclaim periodSingle recovery

Reclaim typeQuota

A manufacturing company's imports qualified for tariff rate quota entitlements that had been consistently overlooked in declarations. Automated analysis identified the missed entitlement and a single recovery was submitted and accepted by HMRC.

Luxury fashion

£221K

Missed EU preference (TCA)

Reclaim period3 years

Reclaim typePreference

A luxury fashion manufacturer was paying full duty on EU-origin goods that qualified for zero tariffs under the UK-EU TCA. Retrospective preference claims were filed across three years of imports — validated against the EU REX registry and accepted by HMRC first time.

WATCH · 36 SECONDS

The £144K case, from the inside

The returns flow, the Returned Goods Relief that went unclaimed, and how the reclaim was built from declaration data alone.

THE PLATFORM

Found by audit, not by luck.

None of these recoveries came from a consultant's hunch. BorderAudit is an automated post-clearance customs audit platform: you connect your customs data, every entry is checked automatically, and overpayments — missed reliefs, missed quota, missed preference, classification and valuation errors — are surfaced while the 3-year reclaim window is still open.

It is freemium software with flat pricing — free to start, Premium at £149/month — never a success-fee service. For how a reclaim is actually filed, see the customs duty reclaim guide; for the relief behind the £144K case, see the Returned Goods Relief guide.

£447K

Recovered across these three case studies

91%

HMRC first-time acceptance

£4.7M

Duty recovered through the platform

17%

Of UK declarations contain errors

Could your imports be hiding similar opportunities?

Connect your customs data once and every entry is checked automatically — reliefs, quota, preference, classification and valuation. Free to start. Flat pricing. No success fees.

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