Can a sole trader import from China? What changes and what does not
A sole trader can import into the UK. Customs deals with a business, not with a company structure, so what you need is a GB EORI number and to be the importer of record on the declaration. What changes with a limited company is not permission but liability: as a sole trader the customs debt, the VAT and the product safety duties are yours personally rather than a company's.
You do not need a limited company to import into the UK. What you do need is an EORI number, and to understand that the liability is personal.
Permission is not the issue
This question comes up constantly and the answer is short: yes. Importing is not restricted to limited companies, and there is no separate licence for being one. Customs deals with a business and needs to know who is responsible for the declaration, which is a person or an entity, and a sole trader is a person carrying on a business.
What you need practically is a GB EORI number, which identifies you to customs and goes on the declaration. Our guide on importing to the UK covers the sequence and what else sits alongside it. If you are VAT-registered, postponed VAT accounting changes the cash-flow shape of every import, which matters more to a small business than to a large one.
So the decision about a company is not about whether you may import. It is about what happens when something goes wrong.
What actually changes is where the liability lands
Three things follow the importer of record, and as a sole trader that is you personally rather than a company that can be wound up.
The first is the customs debt. If a commodity code is wrong, a valuation is challenged or a relief is disallowed, the demand goes to the importer, and it can arrive long after the goods were sold. The second is import VAT, which is recoverable if you are VAT-registered and simply a cost if you are not, so the registration decision interacts with the import decision rather than sitting separately from it. The third, and the one small importers most often miss, is product responsibility: the business placing goods on the market carries the compliance duties, and that is the importer, not the Chinese factory. Our guide on who the importer of record is sets out why that cannot be contracted back.
None of that is an argument that you must incorporate. It is an argument for knowing which risks you are carrying personally, and for sizing first orders accordingly.
| Sole trader | Limited company | |
|---|---|---|
| May import | Yes | Yes |
| Needs an EORI number | Yes | Yes |
| Customs debt falls on | You personally | The company |
| Product compliance duties fall on | You, as the business placing goods on the market | The company |
| Import VAT recoverable | Only if VAT-registered | Only if VAT-registered |
The practical friction is smaller than people expect, with two exceptions
Most of the machinery works the same way. Freight forwarders, customs agents and inspection companies deal with sole traders routinely, and a factory does not usually care about your legal form as long as the payment is reliable.
The first exception is payment. Some suppliers and some banks are more comfortable with a company account, and a personal account making international payments to a new counterparty attracts more scrutiny than a business one. Sort the payment route before you agree terms rather than after, which is the general advice in our payment guide and applies with more force here.
The second is that some counterparties will simply prefer a company, and that includes some retailers and marketplaces you might later want to sell through. That is a commercial fact rather than a customs one, but it is worth knowing before the structure becomes expensive to change.
Our guide on first orders covers sizing a first import so that a mistake is survivable, which is the thing that matters most when the liability is personal.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need a limited company to import from China to the UK?
No. Importing is not restricted to limited companies. Customs needs to know who is responsible for the declaration, and a sole trader is a business carrying that responsibility. What you need practically is a GB EORI number and to be named as the importer of record.
What is the real difference then?
Liability, not permission. As a sole trader the customs debt, the import VAT position and the product compliance duties attach to you personally rather than to a company. That is an argument for knowing which risks you carry and sizing first orders accordingly, not an argument that you must incorporate.
Will suppliers deal with a sole trader?
Usually, yes. Factories care about reliable payment more than legal form, and forwarders, customs agents and inspection companies deal with sole traders routinely. The friction that does arise is mostly around payment, where some suppliers and banks prefer a business account, so settle the payment route before agreeing terms.
Does a sole trader still carry product safety duties?
Yes, and this is the one small importers most often miss. Compliance duties fall on the business placing goods on the market, which is the importer rather than the Chinese factory, and they do not depend on legal form. A sole trader carries them personally.