Specified amount (reference amount)
Source: gov.uk (2025-03-31)

Information and examples and how to calculate specified amount.

The specified amount is the total amount of debt that needs to be covered. Specified amount is the term used in UK legislation and ‘reference amount’ is used in EU (UCC) legislation but they mean the same thing and are calculated in the same way.

The specified amount will be your guarantee limit. If you go over this, you’ll need to increase your guarantee. If you do not your goods could be stopped at the border.

How to calculate the specified amount

You calculate the specified amount partly by looking at previous goods movements you have carried out and partly by considering whether, and by how much, your previous trading pattern may change in future. You may also need to account for seasonal increases.

If you are new to importing, you may have to estimate your initial specified amount. It is always possible to apply to adjust the specified amount if your business needs change. However, please be aware that HMRC will need to reconsider and approve any increase to the amount, and you may need to arrange a replacement financial guarantee if the specified amount changes in anyway. Please allow sufficient time for HMRC to consider any increase and request any additional paperwork that may be required — reconsideration can take up to the same time as an initial application if the increase is significant.

Example:

In the last year, you imported goods each month under inward processing. The duty value of the importations varied between £2,000 and £4,000. Each importation remained in the procedure for two months before being cleared.

Your specified amount would be £8,000 — the maximum duty that might be suspended at any one time. (Two sets of goods in the procedure at any one time, each with a possible duty value of £4,000).

Specified amount for duty deferment

For duty deferment, work out how much customs duty, excise duty and import VAT will be chargeable. You’ll need to give the maximum monthly amount. This is known as ‘actual debt’. Because of the way that duty deferment works, the specified amount that needs to be guaranteed is twice the monthly amount.

Example:

Your specified amount is £10,000. This is the amount you can defer in 1 calendar month.
- on 21st April, you defer £10,000. This maximises your limit and you cannot defer anymore in the month of April without contacting HMRC to increase your limit
- on 1st May, your limit will reset and you can defer up to £10,000. However, you will not have paid for the amount you deferred in April
- on 3rd May, you defer another £9,000
- on the 16th of May, you will pay the £10,000 you deferred in April. The £9,000 will be due on the 16th of June
Duty deferment balances are paid on the 16th of each month (or next working day). In this example you have correctly used your monthly deferment amount of £10,000 between 21st April and 3rd May, but you will have deferred £19,000 before the first payment is taken. This is why the specified amount for deferment is twice the monthly amount.

Specified amount for transit

When using common and union transit, work out the maximum amount your guarantee will need to cover. This debt is not chargeable if all transit movements are discharged correctly and is known as ‘potential debt’.

When a transit movement is begun, it will deduct the potential debt for that movement from your specified amount until that movement is correctly closed. If all your specified amount is being used, you will not be able to begin any new transit movements. The specified amount for transit needs to be sufficient to cover all goods in movement at any one time.

Example:
- you regularly move goods from Greece to the UK by road
- one lorry departs from Greece each week, carrying goods worth £1,000 duty
- it takes 3 weeks for each lorry to cross Europe and clear the goods into the UK
- the specified amount would therefore need to be £3,000 — 3 lorryloads of goods in transit movements at any one time, each with a guarantee requirement of £1,000
Specified amount for customs special procedures or temporary storage

When goods are under temporary storage or special procedures (like inward processing, temporary admission, or customs warehousing), work out the maximum amount that your guarantee will need to cover for customs duty and excise duty for each procedure. The specified amount is the sum of the maximum amounts for each procedure.