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Customs software · Bureau growth

Scale Your Customs Bureau with Less Repetitive Preparation

Take on more clients without taking on more admin. Standardise the routine work in one Customs Declarations UK account, so your experienced people spend their time on exceptions, client questions and customs decisions instead of retyping the same details. Every declaration is visible, and the cost of serving each extra client falls.

  • Saved parties & cloning
  • AI document processing
  • Multi-item CDS editing
  • Volume plans
Review your bureau workflow
  • See every client’s declaration in one queueYour team sees what to prepare, what is with clients and what is submitted at a glance.
  • Start a repeat client from a templateStandardise routine work: the client's parties and settings are ready, so only this week's details change.
  • Draft a new client's entry from e-mailForwarded invoices and packing lists are read into a draft your team reviews before it goes further.
  • Check every line, then submitOpen points are listed by section for the preparer to clear before the declaration is submitted.

In a nutshell

Every new client brings more document chasing, repeated typing and line-by-line checking. Hiring more people helps, but it does not remove the repetition, and the cost per entry stays the same. Customs Declarations UK (CDUK) is the platform your bureau uses to file all of its clients’ declarations directly with HMRC, with repeat preparation standardised so the same information is never rebuilt for every job.

Saved parties and trader profiles, cloned entries, AI document processing (IDP) that turns invoices and packing lists into a reviewable draft, and CDS bulk editing for declarations with many goods items all sit in one account. Your team prepares, checks and submits each declaration, with built-in validation, a full audit trail and our UK support behind you.

Pay as you go with no monthly fee and no minimum volume, or move to a custom plan with volume discounts as your client base grows. For the technical side of volume, see automate high-volume declarations.

Where the time goes

Find the work that grows with every job

Before adding headcount, look at where your operators repeat the same action: copying trader details, rebuilding familiar entries, entering goods lines or checking the same requirement across multiple items. CDUK takes the repetition out of each of these, so every extra client costs your bureau less time and money to serve.

  • Reuse established information

    Saved parties, trader profiles and declaration cloning give repeat work a head start, so a regular client’s entry begins from last time’s details, not a blank screen. Your operators check the shipment-specific facts and current requirements, then submit directly to HMRC.

  • Reduce document keying

    IDP reads commercial invoices, packing lists and transport documents and turns them into a reviewable declaration draft. Your operators correct the extraction and resolve conflicting values before anything is submitted. There is no per-document fee.

  • Handle shared item requirements together

    CDS bulk editing and grouped commodity requirements let your team complete common information across selected goods items in one step. Long declarations that once took an afternoon of line-by-line entry become a short review, and items that differ stay visible for individual attention.

See it on your work

Try three types of job, not an average

A bureau does not file one kind of entry, so one kind of test tells you little. Run the same three jobs through your current process and through CDUK, using a representative sample of your own client work. Our UK team will help you set the pilot up and read the results.

A straightforward repeat entry

  • Saved parties
  • Cloned entry

Pick a client you file for regularly, with stable parties and a familiar movement. This job shows how much of the entry now starts from saved party details or a cloned declaration instead of from scratch. Repeat work makes up the bulk of most bureau queues, so this is often the biggest everyday saving.

  • Record the time from request to a draft ready for review
  • Note which fields changed from the previous shipment and who checked them
  • Confirm carried-over details, such as origin claims or customs value, still apply

A clone saves the typing; your team confirms the facts for each new shipment.

Discuss a repeat-entry test
Measure the saving

Measure the process, not just the submission count

A faster first draft is useful, but the total work through to a usable filing is the better measure. Fill in a sheet like this one with figures from your own sample to see the time and cost saved per entry.

MeasureWhat to recordWhy it matters
Preparation timeTime from received documents to a draft ready for reviewShows how much reuse and extraction cut the routine work
Review timeTime an operator or checker spends confirming the draftA draft that is quick to check is where the real saving sits
CorrectionsFields changed after extraction or after a cloneShows where document quality or a clearer rule can save more time
Unresolved queriesEntries waiting on a client, document or customs answerWhere senior time goes, visible instead of scattered across inboxes

Use these columns for your own pilot; our team can help you set it up.

Illustrative example

What a multi-item CDS entry looks like to review

Example

Common information once, differences kept visible

On a declaration with many goods items, the same shipping marks or supporting document references often apply to several lines. Bulk editing applies them to the selected lines in one step, while grouped requirements show which items share an answer and which do not. Your operator sees what is done, what is mixed and what still needs attention.

  • Apply common item information to selected lines in one step
  • See which requirement groups are answered, mixed or not started
  • Open any single line to treat it differently
Clear ownership

Grow the service with clear ownership

More capacity only helps when everyone knows who does what. CDUK’s workflow, roles and audit trail let you set that out inside the platform, so each declaration has a visible owner, status and history. Agree the working process once, then repeat it for every client.

A repeatable bureau workflow
  • Client workWhich clients and declaration types each operator handles
  • Source documentsWhat arrives, in what format and from whom

  1. Prepare

    Reuse saved data, clone a previous entry, extract from documents or import a spreadsheet, then build the draft. Whichever route you take, the information lands in the same declaration workspace, so your team works one way for every client.

  2. Review

    A second pair of eyes on difficult entries, agreed in advance. Built-in validation catches many problems before anyone looks, and your reviewer sees changes and open items clearly.

  3. Submit

    A named declarant confirms the draft and submits directly to HMRC. Submission happens in your own account, so there is no handover to wait on, and the audit trail records who submitted what and when.

  4. Respond

    One owner handles customs responses and client questions. Notifications of HMRC responses arrive in your account, so queries and corrections reach the right person quickly.

Our team sets up your account and permissions during onboarding, so access matches how your bureau is organised.

More services, one account

Add each filing type as you grow

A bureau can grow by adding services as well as clients. With CDUK they all sit in one account: GB CDS import and export declarations, GB safety and security (ENS), EU Import Control System 2 (ICS2) and GB transit under the New Computerised Transit System (NCTS). Saved parties, templates and the audit trail carry across all of them.

You can add a service for existing clients without adopting a new system or a new set of logins. Our guided wizards and real-time validation help your team through the information each filing type needs, and ENS can be generated from a CDS export declaration. If you file for others, our page on customs agents and brokers covers the wider working model, and pricing shows the pay-as-you-go and volume options.

Talk through your service mix
How to start

A simple way to pilot it

Prove the effect on your own workload before moving the whole bureau across. Accounts are activated instantly, with no monthly fee and no minimum volume, so the pilot costs only the declarations you file. Our UK team helps you through onboarding and training, from the first login to your first live filing.

  1. Pick the three jobs

    Choose a repeat entry, a many-item declaration and an exception from recent client work. Real jobs make the result credible and give you a baseline from your current process.

  2. Set up and onboard

    Register your testers and agree account and access arrangements with our team. We set up permissions to match how your bureau is organised, so each person sees the clients and declaration types they handle.

  3. Run the same jobs

    Record preparation time, review time, corrections and open queries for each of the three jobs. Our team can help you read the results and see where time was saved.

  4. Decide on the evidence

    Compare the results, then agree volumes and filing mix so your plan fits your bureau. If volumes are regular you can move to a custom subscription with volume discounts, or carry on paying as you go.

Frequently Asked Questions

Questions from growing bureaus.

Will CDUK let us handle more work with the same team?

Yes. It removes much of the repeat preparation, so each person can take on more entries in the same working day. The gain depends on your document quality and entry complexity, so we suggest piloting with your own jobs. Measure the time through to a usable filing, not just to a first draft.

Can we import spreadsheets?

Yes. Bulk CSV and Excel upload works well when client information is already structured, loading whole batches into declarations at once. Our team will confirm the template for your declaration type during onboarding. Anything that fails validation is flagged before filing. For the wider volume picture, see automate high-volume declarations.

Are volume plans available?

Yes. Tell us your expected volumes and the mix of filings, and we will propose a custom subscription plan with volume discounts. You can also pay as you go, with no monthly fee and no minimum, which suits bureaus with uneven months. Maximum prices per declaration are published. See our pricing page for the current detail.

Does AI document processing cost extra?

No. There is no per-document fee for IDP. Declaration charges still apply. Your operators review and correct the extraction before the draft is confirmed.

Where do our experienced declarants fit in?

Right at the centre. Your declarants prepare, check and submit every declaration directly to HMRC, with built-in validation and our support behind them. With the repeat keying gone, they spend their time on exceptions and customs decisions. The audit trail shows who did what.

Can we use the platform to file as an agent for our clients?

Yes. Bureaus, agents and brokers use CDUK to prepare and submit declarations for the clients they act for. You hold the authorisations and representation arrangements, and our team explains the account set-up during onboarding. Saved parties and trader profiles keep each client’s details separate and ready to reuse. See customs agents and brokers.

Explore related solutions

Keep building from here

Put Your Busiest Workflow to the Test

Bring a repeat entry, a long declaration and an exception, and we will walk through them with you in CDUK. Book a bureau demonstration to see it on your own work, or register now (accounts are activated instantly) and start filing the same day.

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