LONDON: Brexit has failed to prompt more businesses to seek certainty from the government on their cross-border taxes, stoking concerns about companies’ plans for the U.K.’s exit from the European Union.
The number of requests from U.K. businesses to guarantee the correct tariffs apply to their EU imports and exports hasn’t risen since Britain’s referendum in June 2016, a tax authority spokeswoman said. Every year, the government processes around 4,000 applications for Binding Tariff Information Rulings, with just over 25,000 active in the U.K., she told Bloomberg Tax in an April 27 email.
The statistics underline how some businesses are failing to prepare for the U.K.’s EU departure. In a survey of 300 companies, published January 2018, the Confederation of British Industry said that just over half had examined different Brexit scenarios and the subsequent commercial impacts.
