In the event that the UK leaves the EU without a deal on 29 March 2019, HM Revenue & Customs have published a letter to help businesses that trade with the EU.

Two versions of the letter have been published: one for businesses in England, Scotland and Wales and a separate letter for companies based in Northern Ireland.

Businesses that only trade in the EU and are registered with HMRC for VAT purposes will receive a copy of the letter through the post in the coming days.

The letter asks businesses to take a series of actions as soon as possible to prepare for the upcoming changes.

The first action is to register for a UK Economic Operator Registration and Identification (EORI) number.

Businesses are then asked to decide whether they will use a customs agent to make import and/or export declarations, or will make the declarations themselves using specialist software.

The final immediate action is to contact the organisation that moves their goods (for example, a haulage firm) to find out if they will need to supply additional information to complete safety and security declarations, or whether they will need to submit these declarations themselves.

Businesses are being directed to GOV‌.UK where they can find further information to help them prepare.

A grant scheme has also been set up to help support training and IT improvements for customs intermediaries and traders that complete customs declarations.

Further information on these grants, including details of how these businesses can apply, is available on GOV.UK.