Customs Exchange Rates for Import Valuation: HMRC, EU and Swiss Monthly Tables

How customs value is converted in the UK, the EU and Switzerland, which monthly exchange rate table each authority publishes, when it is fixed, and how to feed it into your declaration and landed-cost process.

Customs duty is a percentage of customs value, and customs value is declared in the importing country's currency. The conversion is not done at a market rate on the day. Each customs authority fixes a rate for a period, publishes it in advance, and expects declarations to use it. If your broker or your landed-cost model uses a different rate, the duty is wrong in one direction or the other, and the difference shows up in a post-clearance audit.

United Kingdom

HMRC publishes monthly exchange rates for customs and VAT purposes, one table per calendar month, normally released in the last week of the preceding month. The rate in force is the one for the month in which the declaration is accepted. The same table is used for import VAT, so a single monthly lookup covers both.

European Union

Article 53 of the Union Customs Code and Article 146 of its Implementing Regulation set the rule: the rate is the one published by the national central bank or competent authority on the penultimate Wednesday of the month, applied throughout the following month. If the rate on any Wednesday differs by 5% or more from the rate in force, it replaces it from the following Wednesday. Member states publish these tables nationally, so the table depends on where the goods are cleared, not where your company sits. We carry the national central bank tables that feed those publications, including the ECB, De Nederlandsche Bank, Czech National Bank and National Bank of Poland series.

Switzerland

The Federal Office for Customs and Border Security (BAZG) publishes monthly exchange rates for customs value and import VAT, fixed before the month starts. The same table is accepted by the Federal Tax Administration for domestic VAT, which is why Swiss finance teams tend to standardise on it.

United States

US Customs and Border Protection uses rates certified by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, with quarterly rates that switch to daily rates when the daily rate moves 5% or more from the quarterly figure. For federal financial reporting rather than customs, the US Treasury Reporting Rates of Exchange apply, and the Federal Reserve H.10 release is the daily reference series.

Building it into the process

• Landed-cost quotes: because customs tables are fixed in advance, quote duty using the table for the expected clearance month rather than a spot rate, and the quote matches the entry.
• Broker reconciliation: recompute duty from the declared value and the official rate for the acceptance month. Differences point to the broker using a different date or a market rate.
• ERP: load the customs table as a separate exchange rate type so it does not overwrite the rate used for VAT on the same invoice. The SAP guide covers rate types; the Business Central guide covers the feed.
• Retention: keep the table version used for each entry. Customs audits reach back three years in the UK and EU. See audit evidence.

Frequently asked questions

Is the customs rate the same as the VAT rate?

Not necessarily. In the UK the HMRC monthly table serves both. In the EU, customs uses the rate fixed under the Union Customs Code, published by national authorities, which differs from the ECB daily rate used for VAT on the same goods. Keep the two lookups separate in your process.

Which date fixes the customs rate?

The date the customs declaration is accepted, using the rate in force for that month. Monthly tables are fixed in advance, so the rate for a shipment can be known before it ships, which is useful for landed-cost quotes.

What happens when a currency moves a lot mid-month?

EU rules provide for a mid-month adjustment if the rate moves more than 5% against the fixed rate. National authorities publish the adjusted rate; if you consume the table from us, the adjusted rate appears on the day the authority publishes it.

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