VPDS121000 | Vaping Products Duty and Vaping Duty Stamps: Uk representative for duty stamps: Background

Any person who wishes to apply duty stamps outside the UK must appoint a representative in the UK.

A UK representative is a person with a fixed UK establishment (for the purposes of confirming whether or not the trader has a fixed establishment in the UK, see the guidance at VATPOSS04500) on whom HMRC can serve documents and undertake compliance activity.

If the person applying does not have a fixed UK establishment, they should not be approved.

A UK representative and the overseas entity for whom they act should be viewed as one and the same.

It is important to note that companies who merely have a ‘brass plate’ presence in the UK should not be approved (a ‘brass plate’ company is one that exists in name only and uses a mailbox or virtual office arrangement). In order to be approved, they must have a premises that HMRC can inspect and check business records.