As a small business your resource can be stretched, and your ability to acquire experienced and highly skilled staff can be challenging and comes at a significant cost. Know-how, experience, and confidence are some of the most cited barriers to micro businesses and SMEs importing and exporting; they crop up in every survey, every report, every conversation! Yet UK-based SMEs have some of the most phenomenal products and services that are just primed for export; whilst if COVID taught us anything it’s that as businesses we need to build more resilience into our operations, especially our supply chains, and this is exactly where importing can help.
Micro businesses and SMEs make up the majority of Global Trade Department’s customer base, and this is no accident. We have specifically designed our services and our flexible mode of operating to meet the needs of these massively important companies. Much of what we do serves to boost internal knowledge, skill sets and capacity, helping our clients develop their global trade revenues to a point where they can start to recruit dedicated teams and reduce their reliance on us.
Our ‘Hands-on Support’ offering covers several ways in which we can help achieve just this, but we’re never prescriptive, so if you’ve identified a need that is not covered here, just let us know, we’ll be delighted to help.
Global trade can exert pressure on internal know-how, capacity, and finances; indeed, this can dissuade many companies from embarking on it in the first place. Our Global Trade Manager programme bolsters your company’s efforts by managing your entire international trade function as integrated members of your team; once your revenues justify bringing on full-time staff, we help you recruit and onboard new hires.
If you are a UK importer or exporter, it is essential you understand what is expected of you from a customs compliance perspective; the costs of getting this wrong can be significant. Our popular Trade Compliance Review is like a mini HMRC Audit, identifying discrepancies with processes and documentation that can be dealt with proactively.
Depending on your business sector and geographical target market, the decision to establish an office overseas can be either a long-term ambition or an immediate imperative. Global Trade Department and its in-market associates guide companies navigate the challenges associated with establishing an overseas presence e.g. form of legal entity, local regulation, tax legislation, premises, staff, and more.
Trading globally can be more costly than trading within your domestic market; traders need to seize opportunities to safeguard cash. Inward processing (IP) is a duty relief procedure that allows goods to be imported into the UK for processing or repair with suspension of import duties and VAT. With a 100% success rate of achieving full authorisation, we have saved clients £1000s in unnecessary duty and VAT.
HMRC offers several customs facilitations and simplifications to help alleviate the burden of import duty and VAT on traders’ cashflow and profits. Global Trade Department frequently advises companies on the exact compliance requirements surrounding the use of procedures like Outward Processing (OP) and has a 100% success rate in applying for Full Authorisations on behalf of clients.
Authorised Economic Operator (AEO) status has become an internationally recognised quality standard demonstrating that a company has met the highest standards of customs compliance and/or supply chain safety and security. Global Trade Department has hands on experience helping clients navigate the application process and obtain the authorisation swiftly and on first attempt.
Obtain an impartial, outside-in assessment of your current global trading processes and practices, with practical recommendations of how you can incorporate sustainability values and targets to meet future regulatory requirements and drive long-term growth.
Company address: Global Trade Department Limited, Kingston House, Great Western Way, Swindon, Wilshire, SN5 8UB, United Kingdom
Global Trade Department Limited is a company registered in England and Wales, Company no: 07000152. VAT no: GB994 7629 49
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