HM Customs and Excise (properly known as Her Majesty's Customs and Excise, often abbreviated to HMCE) was, until April 2005, a department of the British Government in the UK. It was responsible for the collection of Value added tax (VAT), Customs Duties, Excise Duties, and other indirect taxes such as Air Passenger Duty, Climate Change Levy, Insurance Premium Tax, Landfill Tax and Aggregates Levy. It was also responsible for managing the import and export of goods and services into the UK. HMCE was merged with the Inland Revenue (which was responsible for the administration and collection of direct taxes) to form a new department, HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC), with effect from 18 April 2005.
HM Customs and Excise Investigators guarded the borders of the United Kingdom from smugglers. Following a 1971 amalgamation, the service included the former Waterguard, whose uniformed officers had long been a common sight at entry points into the United Kingdom; its insignia included a portcullis. Customs officers had authority throughout the country, including the powers of entry to premises and of arrest. These functions (and the organisation responsible for them) were transferred to HMRC, and further transferred (at least in part) in 2008 to the UK Border Agency of the Home Office.
The prefix of HM abbreviates “Her Majesty's” or “His Majesty's”, depending on the gender of the reigning monarch.
Read more about HM Customs And Excise: Customs, Excise, Customs and Excise, Customs and Excise Ranks
Famous quotes containing the word customs:
“So easy is it, though many housekeepers doubt it, to establish new and better customs in the place of the old.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)