Compare · Commercial models

Munire vs customs duty recovery agents

One model takes a percentage of every refund. The other charges a flat monthly licence and leaves the refund with you.

Two routes exist to reclaim overpaid UK import duty: appoint a contingency recovery agent and pay a share of whatever is recovered, or licence the software and run the work inside your own organisation. Below is the arithmetic, the control difference, and an honest note on where each one genuinely wins.

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01 / The commercial difference

One model scales with your refund. The other does not.

A contingency recovery agent is paid out of what it recovers. The fee rises with every pound HMRC repays, including on claims that took very little work to identify. Because the charge is a share of the outcome, the better the result, the more the engagement costs.

A software licence is priced on capacity rather than outcome. Munire Customs is £650 + VAT per month for one organisation and two named users, whether you recover nothing in a year or half a million pounds. The marginal cost of examining one more declaration, or preparing one more claim, is nil.

Contingency rates vary by provider, volume and engagement, and some add minimum fees or per-claim charges. The worked example below uses 20% as a mid-range illustration; check your own engagement letter for the rate that actually applies to you.

02 / Worked example

Where a flat licence overtakes a percentage.

Munire Customs costs £7,800 + VAT over twelve months. At a 20% contingency rate the two models cost exactly the same at £39,000 recovered in a year. Below that, the agent is cheaper. Above it, the gap compounds — because the agent's fee keeps climbing and the licence does not.

VAT is recoverable for most VAT-registered importers, so the comparison uses net figures throughout.

Illustrative comparison of a 20% contingency fee against a flat annual licence
Duty recovered in 12 months	Recovery agent at 20%	Munire licence, 12 months	Net position vs the agent
£10,000	£2,000	£7,800	−£5,800
£25,000	£5,000	£7,800	−£2,800
£39,000	£7,800	£7,800	Break-even
£50,000	£10,000	£7,800	+£2,200
£100,000	£20,000	£7,800	+£12,200
£250,000	£50,000	£7,800	+£42,200
£500,000	£100,000	£7,800	+£92,200

Illustrative arithmetic only. It assumes a single 20% contingency rate with no minimum fee, floor or per-claim charge, and one Munire subscription held for twelve months. It is not a quotation, and it is not advice on your existing engagement.

03 / Workflow and control

The fee is only half the difference.

A contingency engagement moves the data, the authority and the working papers outside your organisation for the duration of the claim. A licence keeps all three inside it, which matters most when HMRC asks how a position was reached two years later.

Dimension	Contingency recovery agent	Munire Customs
Commercial model	A percentage of each recovery	Flat monthly licence, £650 + VAT
Who keeps the refund	The refund less the agent's share	100% of the refund
Cost of the next claim	Another percentage	Nil — already covered by the licence
Who holds the CDS data	Transferred to the agent	Stays in your workspace
Authority to act	Assigned to the agent	Retained by your organisation
Evidence and working papers	The agent's file	Your record, kept after the claim closes
Who signs the conclusion	The agent's reviewer	Your named reviewer
Access when the engagement ends	Typically ends with the contract	Continues while you subscribe
Ongoing review	A new engagement and a new fee	Continuous, in the same workspace
Best suited to	A one-off historical sweep with no in-house capacity	A recurring programme with in-house professional capability

04 / The honest caveat

A percentage model is not always the wrong answer.

If you expect a single historical sweep, have nobody internally to own the professional judgement, and would rather carry no cost at all if nothing is found, a contingency engagement transfers that risk to someone else. That is worth paying for.

Munire is built for the other case: recurring import volume, a team that can own the conclusion, and a preference for keeping the data, the authority and the evidence inside your own organisation. If your recoveries are small and occasional, the table above says so plainly.

05 / Questions

Asked before every engagement.

What do customs duty recovery agents charge?

Contingency recovery agents are paid a share of what they recover, agreed in the engagement letter. Rates vary by provider, claim volume and complexity, and some engagements add a minimum fee or a per-claim charge on top. Twenty per cent is a common mid-range figure rather than a standard rate, so read your own terms.

Can a UK importer reclaim overpaid import duty without an agent?

Yes. An importer holding an EORI can claim repayment or remission directly from HMRC, most commonly using form C285, or C&E1179 where imported goods have been rejected. There is no requirement to appoint a recovery agent. The work needs the declaration data, the supporting commercial evidence, and someone competent to reach and sign off the conclusion.

What is the break-even point between a 20% success fee and a flat licence?

Around £39,000 of duty recovered in a twelve-month period. Munire Customs is £650 + VAT a month, so £7,800 + VAT a year, and twenty per cent of £39,000 is £7,800. Below that figure a contingency agent costs less; above it the flat licence does, and the difference widens with every further pound recovered.

Who keeps the CDS data, the evidence and the working papers?

With Munire, your organisation does. Declaration data, evidence, the authority record, the analysis and the named review sit in your workspace and remain there after a claim closes. In a contingency engagement the working file usually belongs to the agent and access typically ends with the contract.

How far back can overpaid import duty be reclaimed?

HMRC applies time limits to repayment claims and the limit depends on the ground for the claim. Check the current GOV.UK repayment guidance for your circumstances before relying on any particular date.

Does Munire replace a customs broker or freight forwarder?

No. Munire Customs is post-clearance software. It reviews declarations that have already been filed and prepares repayment claims where the evidence supports one. It does not file import declarations and does not replace your broker or forwarder.

06 / Go deeper

Work out the arithmetic against your own duty numbers.

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