Guides / Work tools and temporary admission · Updated 30 September 2026

Taking work tools and equipment to a UK job: temporary admission

EU contractors often assume their tools cross the border for free because they are coming back. Sometimes they can, under Temporary Admission, but the relief for professional equipment excludes much of the kit used on building sites, and consumables never qualify.

This guide is also available in Polish.

The short version

If you run a business in the EU and send your team to a job in Great Britain, the tools and equipment they bring are imports in the eyes of HMRC. Goods that will leave again after the job can often enter under Temporary Admission, which suspends import duty and import VAT while the goods are in the UK. But the relief for professional equipment has conditions, and several types of equipment used on building sites are excluded. Hand tools are the main exception. Anything that gets used up on site does not count as temporary at all.

This guide covers only the equipment. It does not cover the VAT on the services you invoice to a UK client, which is a separate question.

What Temporary Admission does

Temporary Admission is a customs special procedure. HMRC's guidance says that with authorisation you will not need to pay import duty or VAT on the goods, and that in most cases they can stay in the UK for up to a maximum of 24 months before being re-exported. The actual time limit depends on the type of goods, and for some categories it is much shorter.

The goods must not be altered while they are under the procedure, but you can do work to keep them in their existing condition. At the end you must do one of these things:

• re-export the goods out of the UK;
• move them to another special procedure;
• release them to free circulation and pay the duty and import VAT that were suspended;
• destroy them, but only after telling HMRC first.

HMRC also expects applicants to be financially solvent and to have a good record of complying with customs rules, and you may need a customs guarantee. Check the guarantee point before the first job.

Professional equipment: the conditions

HMRC's relief guidance sets out conditions for professional equipment. The equipment must be:

• owned by a person established outside the UK;
• imported by a person established outside the UK, or by a UK-established employee of the owner;
• used by the importer or under their supervision.

The guidance also says prior authorisation is needed. In practice, an EU company that owns its kit and sends its own workers to use it is the typical case the relief is written for. If the tools belong to someone else, such as a hire firm or the UK client, look at the ownership condition again before relying on the relief.

The construction exclusion, and the hand tools exception

This is where many contractors get caught out. HMRC lists uses for which professional equipment relief cannot be given. They include equipment used for:

• the industrial manufacture of goods;
• the industrial packaging of goods;
• the exploitation of natural resources;
• the construction, repair or maintenance of buildings;
• projects that involve earth moving.

For the last three items, the exclusion does not apply to hand tools. So a joiner's hand tools taken to a refurbishment job can still fall under the professional equipment relief, while heavier plant used to build or maintain the building, or to move earth, cannot use this route.

Excluded equipment is not banned from entering the UK. It simply cannot use the professional equipment relief. You then need another basis, for example a full import declaration with duty and VAT paid, or another procedure if one fits.

Consumables are a normal import

Temporary Admission works on the idea that the goods leave again in the same state. Materials that are used up or built into the job, such as fixings, adhesives, sealants, cable or spare parts fitted to the client's installation, will not be re-exported. The route for them is release to free circulation, with duty and import VAT paid in the usual way. HMRC's list of goods an ATA carnet covers also excludes fuel for consumption, as well as goods imported to be processed or repaired.

Keep consumables on a separate list from the returnable kit. Mixing them makes the Temporary Admission paperwork wrong from the start, and the border check on return becomes harder. A normal import usually needs a CDS declaration and an EORI number, and many firms pass this to an agent. See do you need a broker if you are unsure.

Ways to declare returnable equipment

Full authorisation and declaration

You can apply for Temporary Admission online or by post, then declare the goods to the procedure. This is the route for most van or lorry loads of kit.

Oral declaration or declaration by conduct

For some eligible goods HMRC allows an oral declaration using form C108, or a declaration by conduct when an individual on foot walks through a customs control point with the goods. HMRC states that oral declarations cannot be accepted at roll-on roll-off locations such as Dover and Eurotunnel. A contractor driving a work van through the Short Straits should not plan around an oral declaration.

ATA carnet

An ATA carnet is an international document that can replace the separate customs declarations. HMRC's list of goods an ATA carnet covers includes professional equipment needed for a trade or profession, with the same kind of conditions: the goods are owned and imported by people established outside the UK and used by the visiting person. Equipment for industrial manufacture, exploiting natural resources and construction or maintenance projects is excluded there too. So a carnet does not get around the construction exclusion. What it gives you is one document for leaving the EU, entering the UK and returning. For a detailed comparison see our guide on ATA carnet vs temporary admission. For a practical checklist on preparing the carnet goods list, see this ATA carnet guide for professional equipment.

Bringing the equipment back to the EU

Leaving the UK closes the Temporary Admission, and the goods must be presented as re-exported. The second half of the journey is the EU side. Goods that leave the EU and come back unaltered can use returned goods relief. HMRC says returned goods relief is available in the EU and that the procedures are the responsibility of the relevant EU customs authority. Check your own national customs rules before you set off, not when you come back.

The practical test on both sides is the same: can you prove these are the same items that left? Keep a goods list with makes, models and serial numbers, and keep the export and entry documents together. Our returned goods relief guide explains the evidence customs authorities look for.

Checklist before the job

• Split the load into returnable equipment and consumables.
• Check ownership: is the kit owned by your EU business?
• Check each item against the construction, natural resources and earth-moving exclusions. Only hand tools are carved out.
• Decide the route: Temporary Admission authorisation, an ATA carnet, or a normal import for excluded items.
• Check whether a customs guarantee is needed.
• Do not plan an oral declaration at Dover or Eurotunnel.
• Make a serial-numbered goods list and keep it with the vehicle.
• Confirm how the goods will be declared back into the EU.

Related guides

• ATA carnet vs temporary admission vs duplicate list for equipment

• ATA carnets for trade fairs, samples and professional equipment

• EU contractors working for UK clients: VAT and tools

Sources

• Check if you can get import duty relief on goods using Temporary Admission (GOV.UK)
• Import goods to the UK temporarily (GOV.UK)
• Apply to import goods temporarily to the UK (GOV.UK)
• Find out which goods an ATA Carnet will cover (GOV.UK)
• Pay less import duty and VAT when re-importing goods to the UK (GOV.UK)

General information, not legal, tax or customs advice. Rules change; confirm current requirements on gov.uk or with a registered agent before you ship.