UKIMS application: what systems do I need?
Show HMRC how you decide goods qualify as ‘not at risk’, track them from import to end-use, control declaration errors and retrieve supporting evidence. Describe your actual procedures and record system, with controls suited to your business. Use this preparation checklist when discussing factory documents with Cambridge China Bridge.
Document the eligibility decision
HMRC asks for documented procedures to determine whether goods qualify as ‘not at risk’. Prepare a decision sheet recording the goods, intended customer and end-use, supporting documents, reviewer and unresolved questions. Keep the reasoning alongside the decision rather than recording only an approval.
Before completing that sheet, map your route using our Northern Ireland and Great Britain guide. For each product and customer arrangement, check HMRC's current eligibility guidance. Put unclear destinations or intended processing on hold for review rather than assuming the same decision applies across your stock.
Explain your actual record system
HMRC expects systems appropriate to your business's size, nature and complexity. Its application advice asks you to name your software, or explain a physical filing system, and describe how it tracks goods through to final sale or use. A software name alone leaves the workflow unexplained.
Write a short walkthrough: who records a receipt, how it links to the purchase, where stock movements appear and how a customer delivery is recorded. If you propose a spreadsheet, explain its identifiers, editing permissions and checks. Use our import records guide to prepare the underlying document file.
Connect stock movements to sales
HMRC requires movement records to be integrated into your accounting system or cross-checkable against purchases, sales and stock control. Build a traceable chain between the supplier invoice, goods receipt, stock reference, dispatch record and customer evidence.
Practise tracing a consignment that was split between customers, transferred between warehouses or partly returned. Record the remaining balance and investigate unmatched quantities. Our factory-to-customer traceability guide helps organise identifiers. For stock lots, use the stock-lot buying guide for provenance and grade checks before purchase.
Make error controls visible
HMRC requires internal controls that prevent, detect and correct errors and illegal activities, plus staff instructions for reporting compliance difficulties. Describe who checks the eligibility decision, who releases declaration information and who resolves discrepancies.
Create an exception log for missing destination evidence, altered orders, stock differences and incorrect declarations. Give each entry an owner, action and closure record. Keep the original entry and correction history so a reviewer can understand what changed. Test the process by asking a colleague to handle an incomplete shipment file.
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Prove you can retrieve and protect evidence
Supporting evidence for each consignment must remain accessible to HMRC in the UK for 5 years. HMRC's application advice also asks how you protect physical and digital information against unauthorised access, destruction and loss. Explain your storage, permissions, backup, recovery and retrieval arrangements.
Try retrieving a shipment file from its stock reference, including evidence held by your warehouse or customer. Agree how those parties will supply records and who follows up missing documents. Prepare an application pack containing the decision procedure, tracking walkthrough, control responsibilities and evidence-access instructions. Describe a process your staff can actually operate.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need specialist software for UKIMS?
HMRC expects systems suited to your business and allows you to explain a physical filing system. Describe how your chosen system tracks goods and supports checks; naming software alone does not explain the process.
Must I upload actual shipment records when applying?
HMRC says actual record examples are not needed at application. Explain the evidence types and procedures you use, and prepare a sample file internally to check that the process works.
How long must I keep UKIMS evidence?
Keep supporting evidence for each consignment accessible to HMRC in the UK for 5 years. Include retrieval and backup arrangements in your written procedure.
What if my customer controls the final destination?
HMRC allows authorisation where you can ensure goods meet the ‘not at risk’ criteria. A signed customer statement that goods will remain in Northern Ireland is an example of evidence. Check it against the customer's actual sales arrangements.