The UK is about to price the carbon in everything you import.

It applies to CBAM goods imported on or after 1 January 2027. The first accounting period runs the full calendar year, with the return and payment due by 31 May 2028. From 2028 the scheme moves to quarterly accounting periods. The practical deadline is earlier than either date: the emissions you will be charged on in 2027 are being produced by your suppliers now, and supplier data collection is the slowest part of the job.

For most UK importers, the Import Item Report from HMRC's CDS is enough to begin. It already carries the commodity code, net mass and country of origin for every declaration line, which is the backbone of a CBAM calculation. Upload that report and we will identify your CBAM goods and produce a first liability estimate in minutes — using the global default value wherever supplier data is not yet in place. From there, the work is replacing those defaults with actual emissions data, which is where the savings are.

If the value of CBAM goods you import exceeds £50,000 over a rolling 12-month period, yes — you must register with HMRC. Because the threshold is rolling rather than annual, it can be crossed mid-year by a single large consignment, which is why we track it continuously rather than at period end.

No. The liability sits with the UK liable person — your customer — and there is no UK filing obligation on you. The consequence is commercial rather than legal: if you do not supply emissions data, your customer is charged on the global default value. Because the UK publishes one global default value per CN code rather than country-specific ones, that figure takes no account of a cleaner grid or a cleaner process in your country, so an efficient plant is penalised just as heavily as an inefficient one. Supplying actual data is the only way to show the difference.

No. UK CBAM is a direct charge calculated on your return and paid to HMRC — there is no certificate to purchase, hold, or surrender, and no market position to manage. The rate is set per sector and adjusted quarterly.

It does. A carbon price already paid on the same embedded emissions can reduce the UK charge, with the relief specified per sector and evidence required. There is no separate benchmark or free allocation adjustment layered on top, as there is in the EU. The relief also depends on actual emissions data, which is another reason the global default value is more expensive than it first appears.

Your supplier relationships, installation data and emissions calculations carry over. What differs is the calculation method, the rates, the thresholds, and the return itself — and those we handle separately, so a single supplier response can serve both borders without being collected twice.