Postponed VAT Accounting (PVA) UK 2026 — Declare Import VAT on Your Return

Since Brexit, UK import VAT is normally due in cash at the border — unless you use Postponed VAT Accounting. PVA lets you declare and reclaim it on the same VAT return, wiping out the cash-flow cost. Here is exactly how it works — with the wider post-Brexit duties covered in our selling to the UK after Brexit guide.

How PVA Works in 3 Steps

1. Show your GB EORI + VAT number on the import declaration and select PVA. Nothing is paid at the border — the goods clear immediately.
2. Download your monthly postponed import VAT statement from HMRC. One statement per calendar month covers every import where you used PVA.
3. Declare it on your VAT return: output VAT in Box 1, reclaim in Box 4 (normal input-VAT rules apply), net import value in Box 7.

Worked Example: £40,000 Machinery Import

Last verified: 26 September 2026. Sources: HMRC PVA guidance. Confirm eligibility with HMRC or your customs agent before shipping.

Official sources: HMRC EORI numbers · HMRC VAT registration

Who Qualifies

• UK VAT registered (including non-established traders registered from the first UK sale).
• GB EORI number on the customs declaration — apply free via HMRC if you do not have one.
• Business-use goods — PVA is for imports used in the business, declared per import on the customs entry.
• No separate application: using PVA is a per-shipment choice, not a scheme you join. Tell your freight forwarder or customs agent to select it.

PVA vs C79: Don't Mix Them Up

The C79 import VAT certificate belongs to the old world: you paid import VAT in cash at the border, HMRC posted a C79, and you reclaimed from it. Under PVA there is no cash payment and therefore no C79 — your evidence is the monthly postponed import VAT statement. If your accountant still asks for C79s, confirm whether each shipment actually used PVA.

What PVA does and does not do

The single most common misunderstanding is that PVA removes the import VAT charge. It does not. Postponed VAT Accounting removes the cash cost at the border and moves the charge onto your VAT return — the VAT is still due, still at the same rate, and still reclaimable if you are entitled to reclaim it. What changes is when you pay and what evidence you use to reclaim.

• What it removes: the need to pay import VAT in cash to HMRC's border collection before your goods are released.
• What it does not remove: the import VAT itself, the rate applied, or your obligation to declare it. A business using PVA that cannot reclaim the VAT has simply moved the bill rather than avoided it.
• What it does not change: import duty or any customs charges. PVA is specific to VAT. If duty applies on your goods, it is handled separately on the declaration as normal.
• What it does not cover: VAT that is exempt or outside scope on the import. Postponing applies to the import VAT element that would otherwise be payable at the border.

That distinction matters for cash-flow planning. If you were relying on PVA to improve your margin, it will not — it improves your timing. For a business that can reclaim input VAT the amount ultimately settled with HMRC ends up the same; what PVA genuinely does is stop a large, variable, per-shipment payment landing on your account before the goods can be used or resold.

What the import VAT is actually charged on

Import VAT is not simply a percentage of the invoice value of your goods, and getting this wrong is the usual reason a business's PVA figure does not match its expectation.

The base for import VAT is the customs value of the goods plus any import duty and the relevant shipping and insurance costs. That is why the VAT figure on a postponed import VAT statement can be higher than a simple percentage of the supplier's invoice — and equally why two shipments with identical invoice values can carry different import VAT if the freight terms differ.

Two consequences follow. First, the duty and freight elements change the VAT base even though PVA has nothing to do with duty or freight. Second, the supplier's invoice value is not the figure to use for a sanity check; the customs declaration is. When you compare a month of PVA on your return against the statement HMRC issues, the customs entry is the reference, not the purchase invoice.

A worked example: one shipment through to the return

The section above explains why import VAT does not match the invoice value. This walks one shipment end to end so the boxes and the cash effect are both visible.

With PVA, the £2,100.00 is not paid at the border. The goods clear, and the figure appears on the monthly postponed import VAT statement. On the VAT return for the period it is entered as:

• Box 1 — £2,100.00 added to your normal output VAT.
• Box 4 — £2,100.00 reclaimed as input VAT, subject to the normal rules on what is reclaimable.
• Box 7 — the import VAT base of £10,500.00.

If the business also had £5,000.00 of other output VAT and £1,500.00 of other input VAT in the same period, the return would show Box 1 at £7,100.00 and Box 4 at £3,600.00, so the net amount payable on that return is £3,500.00.

Note what that figure is not. Without PVA the same period would show Box 1 at £5,000.00 and Box 4 at £1,500.00 — a net of £3,500.00 as well. The two returns settle at the same amount, because the import VAT goes into Box 1 and comes straight back out in Box 4. The entire difference is timing: £2,100.00 that would have left the business account at the moment of import stays in it until the return is filed. For a business that cannot reclaim the VAT, PVA genuinely costs extra, because the £2,100.00 is claimed and never returned to you.

Frequently Asked Questions

Disclaimer: General information only — not tax or customs advice. Confirm with HMRC or your customs agent. Current as of September 2026.