Intrastat Offline: CSV submissions

Intrastat

A user guide to the Intrastat Comma Separated Values (CSV) submission service.

Further offline and online guidance can be found in the Intrastat help pages.

Before you start

It is recommended that you:

• Close down all other applications.
• Log on to the Internet. Your internet browser must be Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox or Microsoft Edge.

Visit the Intrastat login page or

Register / login for HM Revenue & Customs online services - sign in with your Government Gateway User ID and Password; choose Intrastat Supplementary Declaration

Check service availability - Intrastat: Service Availability and Issues.

Welcome to Intrastat

Visit the Intrastat login page.

You will see two options:

Useful Links

Click the Useful Links button to see the following options:

• Register for Intrastat
• Online Services and Availability
• More information about submitting on-line and FAQ

Login Page

Click the Login Page button to login with your Intrastat Username and Password.

Intrastat Login

Enter your Username and Password (lowercase) and click the Login button to submit your login details.

When you registered you would have been asked to supply a password, but you will now have to change it. For added security, passwords and usernames are never held together, so when using it for the first time you will be prompted to change it. Enter your old password in lowercase, then enter your new password and confirm it. Click the Change button to activate.

You may enter a Password Hint to help you recall your password when you next login.

Note: Passwords must be lowercase, contain a minimum of eight characters including two digits and the first character must be alpha.

If the system does not accept your login details it will prompt you to re-input them. After four failed attempts the login will be de-allocated and you must contact Intrastat Enquiries to re-allocate you.

If your login is successful you will be presented with the User Options screen.

We also display service unavailability messages below the login details.

User Options

The User Options screen will display the options:

• Change Password Service
• Intrastat Online Service
• User Logout

Change Password

To change your password, enter your old password in lowercase, then enter your new password and confirm it. Click the Change button to activate.

You may enter a Password Hint to help you recall your password when you next login.

Note: Passwords must be lowercase, contain a minimum of eight characters including two digits and the first character must be alpha.

If your browser asks if you would like to save your password to your computer, please choose No, as auto saving may cause you login problems in the future.

Clicking the Quit button will return you to the User Options screen without changing your password.

User Logout

Clicking the Log out button will prompt the message ‘Do you really want to logout from the system?’. Click OK to logout or Cancel to remain.

Clicking the Return to Login button will return you to the Login screen.

Main Menu (traders' version)

Once logged in, you will be presented with the Main Menu screen (traders version) or the Trader Details screen (agents only – see next heading).

The Main Menu screen provides the following options:

• CSV File Upload
• Arrivals Input Form
• Dispatches Input Form
• CSV Guidance
• Browse Arrivals (Traders only)
• Browse Dispatches (Traders only)
• Change Trader (Agents only)
• Quit

Trader Details (Agents only)

Once logged in, you will see the Trader Details screen, which displays a scrollable text box listing the Agent’s current traders, option buttons and input boxes for the Trader’s name, VAT registration number and Branch number (if applicable).

Add Trader

Enter the details of the new Trader’s name; VAT registration number; and Branch number (if applicable) into the input boxes. Once the boxes have been completed, click the Add Trader button to add the new trader to the list of traders in the text box.

Select Trader

To select a trader, highlight the trader’s details in the text box and click the Select Trader button or double-click the required trader’s details. You will now be presented with the Main Menu screen displaying your details and the details of the selected trader at the top of the screen.

Modify Trader

To modify a trader’s details, highlight the trader’s details in the text box and click the Modify Trader button. After confirming this is the trader you require, the trader’s details will appear in the Trader, VAT No. and Branch input boxes ready for amendment. Once the amendments are complete, click the Save Modifications button. This will create a new version of the trader with the modified details, but leave the original version in place. If the original version is no longer required it should be deleted using the Delete Trader button.

Delete Trader

To delete a trader highlight the trader’s details in the text box and click the Delete Trader button. You will be prompted to confirm that you wish to delete the trader before the service removes the trader from the text box.

Main Menu (agents' version)

The Main Menu screen provides the following options: 

• Change Trader 
• CSV File Upload 
• Arrivals Input Form 
• Dispatches Input Form 
• CSV Guidance 
• Quit 

The screen will display the agent’s details and the trader whose data is to be input.  

Please note that the Browse Arrivals and Dispatches options are not available to agents. 

If you need to change your trader, click the Change Trader button to access the Trader Details screen.  

Arrivals and Dispatches Input Forms

If you prefer to use the online form declaration (for up to 20 lines of data), click the Arrivals Input Form or the Dispatches Input Form from the Main Menu. For further guidance, please visit our Intrastat help page.

No Access (30 minute timeout)

To ensure the system is secure, each login session is given a 30 minutes time limit.

The clock will reset once you have clicked the Submit button.

If you are timed out, the screen will show the No Access screen. If this happens, you will have to login again.

Comma Separated Values (CSV) file

A Comma Separated Values (CSV) file has each data field separated by a comma.

Each file should contain either one or two lines of header detail (depending on whether registered as a trader or an agent) with up to 95,000 lines of data.

There are two different formats for CSV files:

• CSV02 format: This is for all Arrivals declarations (and dispatches up until Dec 2021)
• CSV03 format: This is for all Dispatches declarations from period January 2022 month of account. This format includes two additional data requirements: Partner VAT ID and Country of Origin 

There are two ways of preparing a CSV file:

• Use our prepared Excel spreadsheets
• Technical Specification for CSV files

Prepared Excel spreadsheets 

A prepared Excel spreadsheet is available for registered Traders and Agents. 

Login to Intrastat and from the Main Menu choose the option CSV Guidance to download the relevant Trader or Agent file. You can complete the declaration offline; save the file by choosing the extension ‘CSV (Comma delimited) (*.csv)’ and login to Intrastat to upload your CSV file. Please do not save the file using the extension CSV UTF-8 (Comma delimited) (*.csv) as it will fail our processing. 

If you are not registered for Intrastat yet, visit our help pages and scroll down to the heading "Using the prepared spreadsheets" to download the relevant Trader or Agent file:

Technical Specification for CSV files

The Technical Specifications for the two CSV files are available on the Intrastat help page.

The technical specifications show the correct formats required for the CSV files. Files can be prepared by using a text creator e.g. Notepad, or by adapting some accounting software, or any software that can save a file in the CSV format.

Saving a CSV file

In Excel, save the completed file as CSV (Comma delimited) (*.csv) using the Save as and File type option. Please do not save the file using the extension CSV UTF-8 (Comma delimited) (*.csv) as it will fail our processing. 

Note: the file name should be five characters or less.

When correcting an error, you may find it easier to save the file as an Excel spreadsheet (.xlsx), correct the data and re-save it as a CSV file to replace the original.

CSV02 file format: All Arrivals declarations (and Dispatches until period Dec 2021)

Trader Example:  

Line 1: Trader Header. Columns: A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H and I.

A	B	C	D	E	F	G	H	I
T	123456789	100	TRADER	X	A	211221	1121	CSV02

• Column A: Trader flag
• Column B: VAT number
• Column C: Branch* (if applicable)
• Column D: Trader name
• Column E: X = live data / N = Nil return**
• Column F: Arrivals / Dispatches (A / D)
• Column G: Date prepared
• Column H: Period number
• Column I: Period flag is always CSV02

Trader example:

Line 2 onwards. Columns: A, B, C, D, E, F, G and H.

A	B	C	D	E	F	G	H
11405214	1250	EXW	10	122	3000	DE	INV

• Column A: Commodity code
• Column B: Value
• Column C: Delivery terms (if required)
• Column D: Nature of Transaction code
• Column E: Net Mass (if required)
• Column F: Supplementary units (if required)
• Column G: Country goods from or to
• Column H: Traders reference (optional)

Agents only

Please enter your details on line 1 and your trader’s details on line 2 (see the above Trader Header example). 

A	B	C	D	I
A	123456789	100	AGENT	CSV02

• Column A: Agent flag
• Column B: VAT number
• Column C: Branch* (if applicable)
• Column D: Agent name
• Column I: Period flag (is always CSV02)

* If you registered for Intrastat using Branch: 000 or you don’t have a branch, please keep this cell blank. For all other branches, please enter your three digits.

** If you need to submit a nil Supplementary Declaration for your trader, please login to our website and at the Main Menu, choose the Dispatches or Arrivals Input Form, enter the relevant period and click the Submit button. 

CSV03 file format: Dispatches from period January 2022

Trader Example:

Line 1: Trader Header. Columns: A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H and I.

A	B	C	D	E	F	G	H	I
T	123456789	100	TRADER	X	D	210222	122	CSV03

• Column A: Trader flag
• Column B: VAT number
• Column C: Branch* (if applicable)
• Column D: Trader name
• Column E: X = live data / N = Nil return**
• Column F: Dispatches (D)
• Column G: Date prepared
• Column H: Period number
• Column I: Period flag is always CSV03

Line 2 onwards. Columns: A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I and J.

A	B	C	D	E	F	G	H	I	J
11405214	1250	EXW	10	122	3000	DE	QV999999999999	XU	INV

• Column A: Commodity code
• Column B: Value
• Column C: Delivery terms (if required)
• Column D: Nature of Transaction code
• Column E: Net Mass (if required)
• Column F: Supplementary units (if required)
• Column G: Country goods going to
• Column H: Partner VAT ID
• Column I: Country of Origin
• Column J: Traders reference (optional)

Agents only

Please enter your details on line 1 and your trader’s details on line 2 (see the above Trader Header example). 

A	B	C	D	I
A	123456789	100	AGENT	CSV03

• Column A: Agent flag
• Column B: VAT number
• Column C: Branch* (if applicable)
• Column D: Agent name
• Column I: Period flag (is always CSV03)

* If you registered for Intrastat using Branch: 000 or you don’t have a branch, please keep this cell blank. For all other branches, please enter your three digits.

** If you need to submit a nil Supplementary Declaration for your trader, please login to our website and at the Main Menu, choose the Dispatches or Arrivals Input Form, enter the relevant period and click the Submit button. 

Completion of data fields

We recommend reading the full guidance within Notice 60: Intrastat general guide.

Commodity Code

Enter the appropriate eight digit, Commodity code for the goods as detailed in the current year’s EU Combined Nomenclature (CN).

Value

Enter a value in pound sterling rounded up to the nearest pound as used for VAT purposes.

Note: Do not show the pound sterling character, commas, pence or a decimal point.

Delivery Terms

If your trade (either arrivals or dispatches) exceeds the delivery terms threshold you must provide additional delivery terms information on your SDs.

The delivery terms threshold for both arrivals and dispatches is currently £24 million.

For more information, please refer to paragraphs 3.3 and 6.1 in the Notice 60: Intrastat general guide.

Delivery Terms codes

• CFR = Cost and Freight (C&F)
• CIF = Cost, Insurance and Freight
• CIP =  Carriage and insurance pair to
• CPT = Carriage Paid to
• DAT = Delivered At Terminal
• DAP = Delivered At Place
• DDP = Delivered Duty Paid
• EXW = Ex Works
• FAS = Free Alongside Ship
• FCA  = Free Carrier
• FOB = Free on Board
• XXX = Other terms not listed above

Nature of Transaction Code (NoTC)

The NoTC code is used to indicate the type of transaction being declared. The codes commonly used are code 10 for a sale or purchase, 30 for free of charge goods, 40 for goods sent or received for processing and 50 for goods returned or received following processing.

Code	Description
10	All transactions involving actual or intended change of ownership for a consideration
16	Credit note (where the goods are not returned). To reconcile the figures on the SD with the VAT return, credit notes can be entered using NOTC 16 (the 6 indicates a minus figure).Please note: the credit note system must not be used for correcting value errors.
17	Transactions which must be included on SDs but not shown in boxes 8 or 9 of VAT return
18	Transactions which must be included in boxes 8 or 9 of the VAT return but are not required on the SD
20*	Returned goods and replacement goods (free of charge)
30	Free of charge (FOC) transactions involving permanent change of ownership. Goods that are supplied free of charge may not have a taxable value but do require a value for statistical purposes only.
40*	Goods sent or received for processing
50*	Goods returned or received following processing
70	Joint defence or other joint inter-governmental production programmes (eg airbus)
80	Supply of building materials and equipment as part of a general construction or engineering contract
90	Other transactions which do not fit any of the above descriptions. This code should be used for goods sent on hire or operational lease for a period exceeding two years

*Please note: the first digits 2, 4 and 5 identify a transaction which should not be shown in boxes 8 or 9 of the VAT return.

For more information, please refer to paragraph 6.1 in the Notice 60: Intrastat general guide.

Net Mass

Where the EU’s Combined Nomenclature (CN) shows that Net Mass is required, enter the weight in kilograms. This must be rounded up to the next whole kilogram (a zero is not acceptable). Note: HMRC’s systems take into account items weighing less than 1 kilogram that have been rounded up.

Full Commodity code details can be obtained from the Combined Nomenclature.

Note: You may complete the Net Mass and Supp Units fields if your system is set up in this way.

Supplementary Units (Supp Units)

Where the EU’s Combined Nomenclature (CN) shows that a Supplementary Unit is required, the appropriate unit must be entered.

Full Commodity code details can be obtained from the Combined Nomenclature.

Note: You may complete the Net Mass and Supp Units fields if your system is set up in this way.

Country from (Arrivals) and Country to (Dispatches)

The UK only accepts a two character, alpha code for the following EU member states:

Code	Country	Code	Country	Code	Country
AT	Austria	FR	France	MT	Malta
BE	Belgium	DE	Germany	NL	Netherlands
BG	Bulgaria	GR	Greece	PL	Poland
HR	Croatia	HU	Hungary	PT	Portugal
CY	Cyprus	IE	Ireland	RO	Romania
CZ	Czech Republic	IT	Italy	SK	Slovakia
DK	Denmark	LV	Latvia	SI	Slovenia
EE	Estonia	LT	Lithuania	ES	Spain
FI	Finland	LU	Luxembourg	SE	Sweden

For more information, please refer to paragraph 6.1 in Notice 60: Intrastat general guide.

Partner VAT ID (Dispatches only: from period Jan 2022 onwards)

The ‘Partner VAT ID’ of the partner operator will be the VAT number of the customer to whom the goods are dispatched, with the 2-character country code at the start. More information specific just to the construction of the VAT number in EU member States can be found on GOV.UK.

For examples of the Partner VAT ID:

Country	Example format	Country	Example format
Austria	ATU12345678	Italy	IT12345678901
Belgium	BE1234567890	Latvia	LV12345678901
Bulgaria	BG1234567890	Lithuania	LT123456789; or LT123456789012
Croatia	HR12345678901	Luxembourg	LU12345678
Cyprus	CY12345678X	Malta	MT12345678
Czech Rep	CZ1234567890	Netherlands	NL123456789B01
Denmark	DK12345678	Poland	PL1234567890
Estonia	EE123456789	Portugal	PT123456789
Finland	FI12345678	Romania	RO12; Between 2 and 10 numbers RO1234567890
France	FR12345678901; or FRX1234567890; or FR1X123456789; or FRXX123456789	Slovakia	SK1234567890
Germany	DE123456789	Slovenia	SI12345678
Greece	EL123456789	Spain	ESX12345678; or ES12345678X; or ESX1234567X
Hungary	HU12345678	Sweden	SE123456789012
Ireland	IE1234567X; or IE1X23456X; or IE1234567XX

For triangular transactions, where the invoiced customer is in a different member state to that where the goods are dispatched, the VAT number of the person who receives the goods should be used. If you do not know this, then the VAT number of the invoiced customer should be used.

If you dispatch goods to private individuals or non-VAT registered businesses, you should use the code QV999999999999.

Country of Origin (Dispatches only: from period Jan 2022 onwards)

The country of origin will be the country in which the goods were originally produced. This needs to be completed as a 2-character country code. A full list of country codes can be found on GOV.UK.

For goods produced in more than one country, the country of origin will be the country the last substantial transformation took place. This means the country where the goods last underwent processing which resulted in a change in the goods’ Harmonised System level 4 (HS4) commodity code. For example, if car parts (HS4 8708) were assembled into a finished car (HS4 8703).

Work which does not result in a change in the goods’ HS4 commodity code, such as splitting consignments or repackaging goods, will not be sufficient to affect the goods’ country of origin.

When determining the country of origin of the goods you will need to distinguish between goods produced in Northern Ireland and those produced in Great Britain.

• For goods produced in Northern Ireland you must use code ‘XI’.
• For goods produced in Great Britain you must use code ‘XU’.

Please note: country code ‘GB’ is Invalid, and declarations will be rejected if this is used.

Trader’s Reference

The completion of this field with an invoice number for example, may assist in resolving queries. The field will accept a maximum of 14 alphanumeric characters. Note: The completion of this field is not mandatory.

Opening a CSV file in Excel

When saving a file as CSV (Comma delimited) (*.csv)  the fields will convert to scientific format so that when opening the file in Excel some of the fields will have changed e.g. VAT number changed to 123E+08. You may widen the VAT number cell to show your full VAT number.

If the first numeric in the field is a zero, it may disappear from the Branch ID, Date, Period and Commodity Code. To display the zero(s), right click in the appropriate cell, click Format Cells and on the Number tab, click Text. Click OK. The zero(s) will then be displayed. Save the file again (do not open the file again before submission). Login and choose CSV File Upload and resubmit the file.

Example below (for CSV02 format for arrivals):

T	1.23E+08	1	Customs	X	A	210121	1220	CSV02
33011110	10000	FOB	10	100		DE	TDX1
03055930	2000	FOB	20	30		DE	TDX1

Amend to:

T	123456789	001	Customs	X	A	210121	1220	CSV02
33011110	10000	FOB	10	100		DE	TDX1
03055930	2000	FOB	20	30		DE	TDX1

Credit notes and Stage payments

Credit notes and stage payments can be entered on the supplementary declaration.

For each line of credit notes and/or stage payments, you will only need to complete the Value and Nature of Transaction Code (NoTC) fields (no further information is required).

NoTC: 16 is entered for a credit note (you may consolidate the total).

NoTC: 18 is entered for stage payments (you may consolidate the total). This will balance with the value declared on your VAT return in box 8 or 9. Where the goods arrive or are dispatched and no corresponding value is declared on your VAT return, the data line must be completed in full, using Nature of Transaction Code: 17.

For more information, please refer to paragraph 7.2 Credit notes and 14.1 Stage payments in Notice 60: Intrastat general guide.

Nil declarations

If you are a trader and need to submit a nil declaration, complete the header details and enter an N in cell E1. Note: When an N is entered, it will error if you have data on subsequent lines. 

If you are an agent and need to submit a nil Supplementary Declaration for your trader, please login to our website and at the Main Menu, choose the Dispatches or Arrivals Input Form, enter the relevant period and click the Submit button.

Submitting a CSV file

Login to Intrastat and at the Main Menu click the CSV File Upload button.

You will see either the Browse or Choose file button depending on your internet browser. Click the button to bring up a dialogue box to select your CSV file. Once the CSV file is selected, click the Submit button to upload the file.

During processing, all mandatory fields are validated starting with the header details. If there are errors in the header, the processing will cease and you will see the Invalid CSV header screen.

You may see the Processing CSV screen, which will automatically refresh itself to show the progress of the validation function. If you click the End session button the processing will cease and you will need to upload your file again. For larger files, processing can take some time, but as long as you leave the website open and your PC connected to the internet, you may leave the screen and the processing will continue. When you return to the website, you will see either the Please Confirm Submission screen or a Submission Errors screen.

Please Confirm Submission

If there are no errors in your file you will be presented with a Please Confirm Submission screen displaying the details of your submission. If you wish to continue with the submission, click the Confirm button to upload your data, or the Cancel button to abort the submission.

Submission Status

The Submission Status screen gives details of the data submitted and a Submission reference number. It is advisable to record the Submission reference number so that if your data does not reach our database we can trace it for you.

Submission Errors

If the service detects any errors in the file, you will be notified on the Submission Errors screen.

If there are errors in the header the validation will stop and the Invalid CSV header screen will appear showing further details. If the header details are correct, it will continue to validate the data. The first fifty errors will be displayed, but if there are more, the next fifty will be highlighted after you have corrected the data and resubmitted the file. To print the errors, click the Print button. Click the Cancel button to return to the Main Menu.

Note: Upon submission the login session will be extended to another thirty minutes.

Correcting errors

When you upload your CSV file you may see our Submission Errors screen. For each error message and Line No. stated you will need to review the next line on your Excel spreadsheet. This is due to the mandatory header information on line 1 of your spreadsheet but counted as line 0 by our processing.  

If you are an agent, your Excel spreadsheet will display the mandatory header information on line 1 (agent) and line 2 (trader). For each Line No. stated on the Submission Errors screen you will need to ‘add two’ lines when you review your Excel spreadsheet. 

You will need to correct all the errors and save again to replace your existing CSV file. 

From the Main Menu, click the CSV File Upload button and submit the new CSV file. If there are no errors you will be prompted to click the Confirm button or the Cancel button to abort the upload. If you click the Confirm button, you will see your Submission Reference number. It is advisable to record the number in case your data does not reach our database, as it will help us to trace the declaration. 

Additional information

Additional Information Messages

The Additional Information Messages is where a Commodity code for the previous year is being used for the current year, but the Commodity code description has changed in part.

The system will provide you with either one or a selection of Commodity codes, which you will need to check the CN for the up to date description.

Duplicate data

When identical data is submitted twice, the Please Confirm Submission screen will show the following message:

‘This submission may be a duplicate of a previous submission with the Submission Ref e.g. isa002122/00000184’.

Press the Cancel button to abort the transmission.

Testing files

To test a file, upload the CSV file via our Intrastat online service. This will validate all fields and any errors found will be highlighted. Correct all errors then re-upload the file. When a file is acceptable a Please Confirm Submission screen will appear. Press the Cancel button to abort the transmission of the file.

Please note: Test files should not be transmitted to HM Revenue & Customs.

Browse Arrivals and Dispatches (Traders only)

These options are only available if you are registered as a ‘Trader’. To view details of supplementary declarations previously submitted, click on the Browse Arrivals or Browse Dispatches buttons to access the Browse screens.

Enter the period you require in the input box and click the View Submissions button. Any submissions for the selected period will be listed in the order they were submitted in the drop-down box entitled Available Current Submissions. Choose the submission you require by highlighting it and then clicking the View Arrivals or View Dispatches button.

• Current submission: the current and previous year.
• Archive submission: older than two years.

If you wish, you can choose which item in the supplementary declaration (SD) to start browsing from by adjusting the value in the Start Record input box. By default the system will display the return starting at the first item.

The service will display ten items at a time. If there are more than ten items in an SD, you can use the scroll buttons (<<<< or >>>>) to browse the next or previous ten items.

To return to the Main Menu screen click the Main Menu button.

Quit

To exit, click the QUIT button and after confirming you wish to quit you will return to the User Options screen. Clicking the Logout button will prompt you to confirm that you wish to logout of the service, before presenting you with the User Logout screen. Clicking the Return to Login button will return you to the Intrastat Login screen. These screens may seem excessive but they are there to ensure you do not exit the system by accident.

Amendments

If you need to correct errors in an Intrastat declaration, please visit our Intrastat pages and read "When to correct an error".

Additional data

Additional data can be submitted electronically using either the online form or the CSV file. Only submit the additional data for the appropriate period, do not resubmit the original data with the additional data.

Further Help

If you encounter any problems using the service, please contact us.

 

Published 8 October 2021
Last updated 19 April 2023