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Businesses would have to file customs declarations in both a no-deal scenario and the so-called maximum facilitation that Prime Minister Theresa May’s inner Cabinet is analyzing, Jon Thompson, chief executive of HM Revenue & Customs, told lawmakers in Parliament on Tuesday. That makes the cost similar, he said, although his estimate for “max fac” doesn’t include any shipment delays.
Thompson said last month that the Brexit supporters’ preferred model would cost about six times more than the close customs partnership, which he estimated at no more than 3.4 billion pounds a year.
His calculation for maximum facilitation was based on each customs declaration costing 32.50 pounds, multiplied by 200 million -- the number of intra-EU consignments in 2016 -- and then doubled to account for businesses on both sides of the border. Another 3 billion pounds to 7 billion pounds is added for rules of origin requirements. [...]