Expand to the UK from Italy: customs, VAT, company and visas

In 2025, 35,165 Italian businesses sold goods to the UK. That’s more than sold to France or Germany; only Switzerland and the United States drew more Italian exporters, says the ISTAT-ICE yearbook published on 16 July 2026. Britain took 4.2% of Italian exports, the sixth market. Lately, though, it’s cooling: €6.4 billion in the first quarter of 2026, 7.8% below a year earlier.

Want to expand to the UK? Brexit didn’t shut the door. It did add forms, and most of them can be priced before the first pallet leaves. We’ll start at the border and with VAT when you have no British base, then weigh the four ways in. Visas, the people who can help and a 90-day checklist come after. New to all this? Start from the beginner’s map, from zero to a first round.

Why expand to the UK from Italy?

Because plenty of Italian companies already do. In the first quarter of 2026 machinery led Italian exports to the UK with €945 million, ahead of food (€808 million), motor vehicles (€633 million) and basic metals (€544 million), in Agenzia ICE’s tables on ISTAT data.

The yearbook also carries a warning: with Turkey and China, the UK is one of the three markets whose share of Italian exports shrank most in 2025. Growth there has to be won from someone, and a buyer who already has an Italian supplier will want a reason to switch. Put it in your go-to-market plan, the one page on who you sell to, how and at what price. Our six questions for a market entry strategy will sharpen it.

Startups go too. On 5 October 2026 Forbes Italia reported that TextYess, a Milan maker of AI agents for e-commerce brands, had raised €4 million and would make the UK its first foreign market. The pool is deep: 2.79 million VAT or PAYE-registered businesses in March 2026, says the Office for National Statistics.

Customs after Brexit: EORI, rules of origin and checks

Selling to the UK from the EU now means a customs border. Someone must declare your goods as they enter Great Britain and pay import VAT and any duty. Usually that’s your customer or its customs agent. Agree to deliver duty paid (DDP) and it’s you: you’ll need a GB EORI number, the customs ID, which gov.uk says usually requires UK premises. Without them, you appoint someone to deal with customs for you.

Rules of origin: how to get zero tariffs

Zero tariffs and zero quotas: that’s the deal, but only for goods that meet the rules of origin. It’s written in the EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement, applied since 1 January 2021. A product qualifies if it’s wholly obtained in the EU or the UK, or processed enough there under its product rule: a change of tariff heading, say, or a cap on foreign materials as a share of the ex-works price.

You claim the zero rate with a statement on origin on the invoice, or through the importer’s own knowledge of how the goods were made. Above €6,000 a consignment, an EU exporter’s statement must carry its REX (registered exporter) number, and the buyer keeps the records for four years. Using parts from Asia? Collect supplier declarations before the first shipment.

Food, and the CE or UKCA question

Food carries the heaviest paperwork. Since 31 January 2024, medium-risk animal products, plants and plant products from the EU have needed health certificates, with checks from 30 April 2024; checks on medium-risk fruit and vegetables are suspended until 31 January 2027. A UK-EU veterinary (SPS) agreement should remove most of that: London’s stated intent is mid-2027, ending export health certificates that can cost up to £200 a consignment. Until then, today’s rules apply.

Product marking is calmer than in 2021. The UK continues to recognise CE marking, alongside or in place of UKCA, says gov.uk. Construction products, medical devices, cableways, marine and rail equipment, transportable pressure equipment and drones have their own rules. In one of those? Read the sector page before you print labels.

UK VAT for EU sellers: do you need to register?

Britain is stricter than the EU here. A business with no UK establishment, a ‘non-established taxable person’ to HMRC, has no registration threshold; the £90,000 limit is for UK businesses. Make taxable sales in the UK, or expect to within 30 days, and you must register.

Many B2B sellers, those selling to companies rather than consumers, never need to. Gov.uk says overseas sellers who only sell goods located outside the UK to UK VAT-registered businesses don’t have to register. Sell DDP, though, and you’re the importer: ask an adviser about UK VAT registration before the first shipment.

Consumers change the picture. On goods worth up to £135 a consignment, shipped from abroad to a British consumer, you charge UK VAT at the point of sale, so you register. Above £135, normal import rules apply. Wine and spirits, as excise goods, stay out of the £135 scheme. The standard rate is 20%; most food is zero-rated.

Distributor, agent, branch or UK Ltd: which route?

Four routes, lightest first. Our guides to entering the German market and entering the US market from Italy use the same menu.

Route	What it is	Rules and costs	Suits
Distributor	Buys from you and resells in its own name, usually as the importer	Contract law; no Companies House filing for you	A first test of the market with little fixed cost
Commercial agent	Self-employed, negotiates sales for you on commission	Compensation when the contract ends, unless it opts for an indemnity capped at one year’s average pay	B2B sales you invoice from Italy
UK branch (UK establishment)	Your Italian company, registered in the UK	Form OS IN01 within one month of opening, £124; Corporation Tax on the profits made through it	A local office without a new company
UK limited company (Ltd)	A British company you own	£100 to incorporate online; UK registered office; identity checks; Corporation Tax at 19% to 25%	Hiring, holding stock, invoicing in the UK

The agent’s payout when the contract ends

Britain kept the EU agency rules. When the contract ends, the agent gets compensation. That’s regulation 17 of the Commercial Agents Regulations 1993, and it applies unless the contract opts for an indemnity instead. The indemnity has a ceiling: one year’s pay, averaged over the last five years. Take your agent in Manchester, with commission of £30,000, £36,000, £42,000, £45,000 and then £47,000 over five years. Average it: the cap is £40,000.

And file your trademark in the UK before you sign with anyone. An EU trademark hasn’t covered Britain since 1 January 2021, and a UK application costs at least £205. Our guide to registering a trademark in Italy and the EU covers the first part.

Set up a UK company or open a branch?

A branch isn’t a new company. It’s your Italian company, registered as a UK establishment within a month of opening, for £124, and taxed in the UK on the profits it makes there.

A UK Ltd, the British cousin of an Italian SRL, costs £100 to incorporate online. The registered office must be a physical UK address; a PO box won’t do. After that it’s £50 a year, paid when you file the confirmation statement online. One newer rule: since 18 November 2025, directors and people with significant control have to verify their identity. Any country’s biometric passport will do. Profits pay Corporation Tax at 25%, or 19% up to £50,000. A British co-founder heading the other way will find the steps in our guide to opening a company in Italy as a foreigner.

UK visas for founders and staff

Short trips first. As a European you usually need an electronic travel authorisation (ETA): £20, for visits of up to six months. Business visitors can attend meetings, negotiate and sign deals and promote the company at trade fairs, if no UK organisation pays them. Selling at the fair is out.

Working there takes a visa. Three routes matter:

• Skilled Worker, for staff of a UK company with a sponsor licence. Pay must reach £41,700 a year or the going rate, whichever is higher; the visa costs £819 from outside the UK for up to three years.
• Innovator Founder, for a new, innovative, scalable business assessed by an approved endorsing body: £1,357 from outside the UK, for three years.
• Global Talent, for leaders or potential leaders in research, arts and culture or digital technology: £561 for the endorsement plus £205 for the visa, up to five years at a time.

Each adds a health surcharge, usually £1,035 a year. Let’s price a move. Your Bergamo company sends one of its engineers to its UK Ltd, a small sponsor, for three years: licence £611, certificate of sponsorship £525, Immigration Skills Charge £1,440, visa £819, health surcharge £3,105. About £6,500 before the first payslip.

Who can help: ICE London, the Italian chamber, SIMEST

Start with Agenzia ICE in London, at 4-5 Buckingham Gate. It has desks for high-tech capital goods, for agri-food and for consumer goods. Then there’s the Italian Chamber of Commerce and Industry for the UK. It dates from 1886 and the Italian government recognises it. Members get introductions to partners, clients and suppliers.

For funding, SIMEST’s market-entry loan (Inserimento mercati esteri) pays for opening a commercial structure abroad and excludes no destination. The smallest loan is €10,000. An SME can go up to €2.5 million or 35% of average revenue, whichever is lower, over six years at 0.371%. Meet the requirements and up to 10% of it, no more than €100,000, can be a grant. SIMEST has other lines too; our SIMEST financing guide runs through them. Planning an application? Our SIMEST and Smart&Start handbook (PDF and Excel, Italian and English, €89) goes through who qualifies, the documents and the steps. And the mistakes that sink applications.

Checklist: your first 90 days in the UK

1. Week one: list twenty British buyers and who supplies them today.
2. Check origin product by product, and register for REX if consignments will top €6,000.
3. Decide who imports. Selling DDP? Line up a customs agent, a GB EORI and VAT advice first.
4. Confirm the marking, and for food the health certificate your product needs today.
5. File your UK trademark.
6. Pick the route; have a UK lawyer read the contract, compensation clause included.
7. Price the people: ETAs for visits, sponsor licence, visa and surcharge for anyone who moves.
8. By day 90, ask ICE London or the chamber for introductions, and check SIMEST before you sign a lease.

This article is general information, not legal or tax advice. UK and EU rules change: check gov.uk and HMRC, or ask a lawyer or tax adviser in both countries, before you ship, sign or invoice.