Import Duties: Tax Allowances
The question
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to HM Revenue and Customs' press release entitled Government backs high street with acceleration of cheap import reforms and crackdown on dodgy online sellers, published on 23 June 2026, what estimate she has made of the number of low-value parcels imported into the United Kingdom in each of the last five years.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson
The information requested is not available. Low value imports are routinely declared using simplified customs declarations known as the Bulk Import Reduced Data Set (BIRDS). Under these arrangements, a single declaration may cover multiple parcels and is submitted using a reduced data set. As a result, the number of individual parcels is not directly recorded.
However, HMRC analysis of sample data suggests that the number of consignments imported using BIRDS more than tripled between calendar year 2021 and the annual period ending June 2024. These figures should not be interpreted as the number of individual parcels imported.
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