The department said the new system has been designed to reduce excise fraud. Before the paper system is halted on the 31 December, traders will be able to try out dispatching goods on EMCS. To use it, traders will have to register online at HMRC, and they will then be provided with a user ID and activation pin code. Businesses will also be able to also access the system using the department’s free online service or by using their own comme ... Jump to full article >>

A  smuggler who was stopped at a ferry port with a people carrier crammed full of 28,000 cigarettes was given a suspended prison sentence today. According to HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC), Karl Hansen, 47, from Stockton-on-Tees, was found with almost 450 kilos of hand-rolling tobacco as well as the cigarettes when he was stopped at Poole Ferry Port, in Dorset. Bournemouth Crown Court heard how Hansen was stopped on October 3, last year, by of ... Jump to full article >>

Thousands of tobacco smugglers could be due compensation because their assets were wrongly confiscated, customs officials have admitted. More than £10m has been recovered from smugglers during the last four years. But officials failed to notice a change in the law in 2001, which meant only the main players in smuggling scams should have had their assets seized. HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) has called the slip “deeply regrettable”, ... Jump to full article >>