I wonder if our esteemed Mr Jacket can answer a question. I've been self employed for many years, and one of the first things my Accountant told me was never to upset the Inland Revenue, or give them any reason to delve deeper into your accounts, and this was undoubtedly excellent advice. Once the tax people put a mark on your file, it stays with you for life, and they examine everything even more carefully, you're marked down as 'dodgy' for evermore. Is there any way that the Customs people can operate in the same way? I run a mail order business, and have probably sent thousands of packages overseas over the years, but have always been careful to make full and honest customs declarations. I've never had any comebacks, and foreign customers have never complained to me about the import duty they have to pay, but if I started under-declaring values or falsely marked goods as 'gifts', is there any mechanism by which our beloved UK customs could get back at me? Since every package is now barcoded, do they have any records of who sends what overseas and to where? But since they aren't collecting revenue on them, maybe they aren't too concerned about goods that are leaving the Country, rather than being imported.
