DDP vs DAP

DDP stands for Delivery Duty Paid. As such, the seller commits to deliver products as if it were a local delivery, including local VAT. All customs obligations fall to the seller. The export declaration will (in most cases) not cause any problems, but the import declaration is a different story.

Import declaration by Boom Customs

If you, as a Dutch seller, ship DDP to customers in the UK, you have to apply for a UK EORI and VAT number. This also means you have to file periodic VAT returns in the UK, charge VAT to your customers and remit VAT to the UK tax authorities (HMRC). It might be wise to consider using a UK accountant for this.

In addition, you need to find a customs agent to do the import declaration. Experience shows that this can be challenging because customs service providers are more at risk if the importer is not based in the customs territory where the import declaration is made. We do provide import declarations on DDP terms, but only if we can determine that everything is completely in order and that the risk is mitigated.

DAP

Wherever possible, we help exporters with an alternative to DDP, which we call full-service DAP. We are already successfully doing this for several dozen Dutch exporters. Together with the exporter, we approach his UK customers. We ask them to sign an authorisation allowing Boom Customs to file the UK import declaration on their behalf. We sort out the rest with the exporter, including the settlement of all costs. The buyer doesn't have to do anything else and can rest assured of punctual delivery.