Mr. Gerry Harrahill:

The best way of describing it is that as part of the process of importing goods into Ireland, a description of the goods will be provided in the declaration and it will then be clear what rate of customs duty, if any, and what VAT, if any, apply. What happens then is that in order for the goods to be cleared for circulation within Ireland, either the duty, including the VAT, must be paid at the time of import or if the importer has an arrangement with Revenue for collection of the duties and VAT as part of its normal accounting process, the VAT and customs duty are collected as part of the transaction. It is not separate but integrated as part of the process of determining whether there is a liability to customs duty and VAT and it is then paid at the point of import or, in most instances, by way of a deferred payment account in place between the importer and Revenue.