Our office is closed from Tuesday 24th December and reopens on Thursday 2nd January 25.
Please note that we are not the HMRC tax office; their contact number is 0300 200 3700.
Our office is closed from Tuesday 24th December and reopens on Thursday 2nd January 25.
Please note that we are not the HMRC tax office; their contact number is 0300 200 3700.
David has been involved with VAT and Customs for over 35 years, both within HM Revenue & Customs as a Customs officer and then as a VAT officer and, since 1999, as a VAT & Customs consultant.
As well as being very experienced in assisting clients with VAT issues, David heads up The Customs People which is the Customs & Authorised Economic Operator [AEO] advisory arm of the company, specialising in assisting importers, in particular, operate as efficiently as possible in respect of imports and exports.
His clients include an array of businesses including a number of well known household names and a number of leading Universities.
His recent work has included assisting one importer with the removal of a £1.2M import VAT and import duty bill, recovering £200,000 overpaid duty for another importer (incurred as a result of Brexit) – this also included securing a ruling that ensures a further £280,000 will be saved - and assisting an educational institution recover almost £50,000 in overpaid VAT and duty, as well as advising on how to make changes to their system to avoid the need for future claims.
David has helped many businesses make sense of Brexit including both transactional advice and planning advice so that the impact is minimised as much as possible.
David has also advised a number of businesses in respect of seeking AEO status (Authorised Economic Operator) which is an ever-more important consideration for importers, exporters and logistics firms. To date David has been involved in more than 50 AEO projects and this has included full service offerings where he has led full AEO applications from start to finish to advisory services on how businesses should approach AEO applications.
In 2022, David was awarded the Nigel Clothier Award for Special Contribution to University Tax, after working with the British Universities Finance Directors Group (BUFDG) and their University members regarding customs and import VAT post-Brexit.
Away from the office, David likes to watch [but not play] all sports, but especially following the trials and tribulations of both West Ham United & St Helens Rugby League Club.