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United Kingdom tax and customs law, cited at the source.

Two experts connected into Claude and ChatGPT: the customs of the United Kingdom and its tax law. Method first, the statute at its vintage, HMRC guidance with its weight stated — and the citation served with every answer. Not a search engine: a reasoning that holds its conclusion, as the text stood at the date.

Connect the connectors See the method

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The Custom House on the Thames, London — aquatint engraving, Microcosm of London (1808)

What the record holds

  • UK Integrated Tariff 17,134 ten-digit lines — GB and Northern Ireland, each
  • Acts of Parliament 22,644 sections, read section by section
  • Statutory instruments 1,821 regulations — the EU-Exit customs family included
  • Vintages 2019-2026 rates and thresholds, as the text stood each year
  • HMRC manuals & notices 34,715 pages — guidance, never the law, and it says so
  • Treaty articles 3,839 across 172 jurisdictions, MLI texts included
  • Judgments, full text 49,195 — Supreme Court to First-tier, weighted by court
  • Pending amendments tracked act by act — the answer warns when the text lags the law

The two red boxes

One connector per domain, and inside each: far more than the documentation — the trade’s method and the technical craft that applies it. Every answer cites its sources, to the line and to the section.

The Long Room of the Custom House, London — declarants at the desks, aquatint engraving (1808)

Gladstone Customs

UK customs from the tariff to the tribunal: classification, value, origin, the duty stack — and the defence.

  • The Integrated Tariff at ten digits — 17,134 declarable lines with dated measures, duty expressions verbatim, and the Northern Ireland line beside the GB line, never merged.
  • TCTA 2018 and CEMA 1979 read section by section; the EU-Exit statutory instruments; Finance Acts 1994-2026 for reviews and penalties.
  • HMRC customs manuals and notices with their life-chain — withdrawn texts say so; guidance labelled guidance.
  • Trade remedies by exporter, sanctions lists, export controls, licensing — attached to the line they touch.

And it drafts: the duty computation layer by layer (customs duty, excise, import VAT), the statutory review request, the notice of appeal, the seizure claim within its one fatal month, the voluntary disclosure.

8711 60 10 00 TCTA 2018, s. 16
Connect — it’s open See Gladstone Customs

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The Excise Office, Broad Street, London — aquatint engraving (1810)

Gladstone Tax & Law

The right section, at the right vintage: the charging Acts versioned, HMRC manuals weighted, treaties article by article.

  • The charging Acts — ITA, ITEPA, ITTOIA, CTA ×2, TCGA, VATA, IHTA, TMA, TIOPA — 22,644 sections, served as they stood at the date of the chargeable event.
  • Rates and thresholds vintaged 2019-2026: bands, allowances, NIC, nil-rate bands — the year picks the figure, never memory.
  • 34,715 pages of HMRC internal manuals — Compliance Handbook, Enquiry Manual, International — guidance with its weight stated.
  • 3,839 treaty articles across 172 jurisdictions, MLI-synthesised texts included; 49,195 court and tribunal judgments held in full text, Supreme Court to First-tier, weighted by court.

And it drafts: the tax computed from the text at the year, the enquiry response, the closure application, the appeal with postponement, the voluntary disclosure with its behaviour analysis.

ITA 2007, s. 23 [2026] UKFTT (TC)
Connect — it’s open See Gladstone Tax & Law

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The method, by the book

Gladstone keeps a ledger: every figure has its line, every line has its source, and the date commands the version. Procedures, deadlines and technical craft ride inside the connector — and the order of time is real.

The Grand Panorama of London from the Thames (1844): the Custom House, the Tower, the docks — steel engraving
Quay after quay, the river runs past the Custom House — the landing: the source.

  1. Connect

    One click from the connect page — Claude web, desktop and mobile; ChatGPT through the same address. The connectors are open: no account needed today.

  2. Ask, dated

    Put the question and state the date of the chargeable event: the declaration date, the tax year. The version served is the one that date commands — and the answer says which.

  3. Verify the citation

    The answer cites the commodity line, the section, the manual page, the fiche — verifiable line by line at the official source.

The connectors work with Claude and ChatGPT; recommended models: Claude Opus 5 or GPT-5.6 Sol (or newer) — errors here are paid in assessments.

From memory, or on the record

The same question, two answers: the one resting on a model’s recollection, and the one that goes back to the text.

From memory

“Electric bicycles fall under chapter 87, with a moderate duty; anti-dumping measures may apply to some origins, and the rules have probably changed since Brexit.”

Unverifiable

On the record

“Commodity 8711 60 10 00, third-country duty 6.00 %. Goods of Chinese origin carry a definitive anti-dumping duty — up to 62.10 % by exporter — and a countervailing duty up to 17.20 %, on top of the duty. Import VAT at 20 % on the cumulated base.”

  • UK Integrated Tariff, commodity 8711 60 10 00 — measures as dated
  • Taxation notice 2020/24 — anti-dumping, by additional code
  • VATA 1994, ss. 1(1)(c) and 21 — import VAT base

The exhibit

A practitioner’s question, the answer in brief, and the citations that let you verify.

“Border Force seized my client’s van with undeclared tobacco three weeks ago — what can still be done?”

The legality of the seizure is contested by notice of claim within ONE MONTH of the notice of seizure — after that the thing is deemed condemned, everywhere and for good. Restoration runs as a separate, discretionary track, and a refusal opens the 30-day review and appeal clock. Both tracks, in parallel, dated from the seizure notice.

Citations CEMA 1979, Sch. 3, para 3 s. 152(b) FA 1994, ss. 15C-16

“HMRC wants to reopen 2019-20 — the enquiry window closed years ago. Can they?”

Only through a discovery assessment: HMRC must pass one of the two gateways — careless or deliberate conduct, or a hypothetical officer who could not reasonably have been aware from the return. The time limits run by behaviour: four years ordinarily, six if careless, twenty if deliberate — computed as calendar dates from the end of the year of assessment.

Citations TMA 1970, s. 29 ss. 34 and 36 Sch. 24 FA 2007

Every desk has its questions

Two fronts, six trades: what the professionals hand to the record, and the first question they ask.

At the customs desk

Brokers and forwarders. You hand it classification, value and origin — and the CDS entry with its data elements, sourced. “Which commodity code for a modular LED assembly with integrated driver?”

Importers and exporters. You hand it the landed-cost estimate before the purchase order: line, duties, licences, controls. “What must be in place before we order this radio equipment?”

Customs counsel. You hand it the substance of the law — and the pieces, from the seizure notice to the tribunal bundle. “HMRC relies on the contravention regulations — answer point by point.”

At the tax desk

Tax advisers and counsel. You hand it the exact vintage and the procedure, from the enquiry letter to the tribunal. “This assessment covers 2021-22 — give me the section as it stood that year.”

Accountants. You hand it the tax computed from the text — income tax, corporation tax, CGT, VAT, IHT. “CGT on a residential disposal by a non-resident: rate, base, and the 60-day clock?”

Finance directors. You hand it the treaties and the cross-border — qualification, treaty caps, transfer pricing. “Does the UK–Germany treaty cap the withholding on these royalties?”

The limits, stated plainly

  • Gladstone is a documentary research aid: it is not legal or tax advice, and an instructed professional decides.
  • Texts serve with their status and their vintage: the applicable version is judged at the date of the chargeable event — and where an enacted amendment awaits consolidation, the answer says so.
  • HMRC manuals and notices are guidance — they may found a legitimate expectation, never the law — and every answer labels them as such.
  • The service is used within Claude or ChatGPT — recommended models: Claude Opus 5 or GPT-5.6 Sol (or newer); a Claude or ChatGPT subscription is theirs, not ours.

For the full frame: frequently asked questions and terms.

Three questions, before you connect

Where do the texts come from?

From the official record carried in the legend: the UK Integrated Online Tariff, legislation.gov.uk for the Acts and statutory instruments, HMRC manuals and notices on gov.uk, the gov.uk treaty collection, Find Case Law for the judgments, held in full text. All under the Open Government Licence and the Open Justice Licence — and every answer returns the exact citation, for verification at the source.

How do I connect?

From the connect page: copy the connector’s address into Claude (web, desktop or mobile) or ChatGPT — one connector for customs, one for tax. The connectors are open: no account is needed today.

Is this legal advice?

No: a sourced research aid. The professional verifies the citation, weighs the situation and decides.

All frequently asked questions

Ready to stop guessing?

Open your red box: test it on a real matter, today.

Connect Gladstone Customs Connect Gladstone Tax & Law

Open connectors · no account needed today · works in Claude and ChatGPT.