New free tool: do you need to register for the UK CBAM?

Carbon Recycling has launched a free checker that tells UK importers whether they must register for the UK CBAM, which starts on 1 January 2027. Up to four questions about your imports give a yes or no against HMRC's £50,000 threshold, the date you become liable and your first registration and return deadlines.

Updated 20 October 2026 by the Carbon Recycling team. Figures use the official UK government conversion factors and are checked against the current gov.uk guidance.

Do I need to register for UK CBAM? went live on 19 October 2026. It is for businesses that bring aluminium, cement, fertiliser, hydrogen, or iron and steel goods into the UK, and for anyone who buys those goods and isn't sure whether the charge falls on them or on their supplier.

What it asks

How the goods reach you. You import them yourself (including through a customs broker, freight forwarder or courier), a UK merchant imports them in its own name and sells to you, or you don't import at all. Only the importer registers.
Which of the five CBAM sectors your imports fall in, or none of them.
Where the goods were made: outside the UK, UK-made goods coming back, or only ferrous or aluminium scrap.
The customs value of your imports. From 2027, what you have imported over the last 12 months and what you expect in the next 30 days. Before 2027, what you expect to import over 2027 and in its first 30 days.

Each question after the first only appears if it can change your answer, so if you aren't the importer you're done after one.

What it tells you

If you're not the importer, your goods aren't CBAM goods, they're UK-origin or scrap, or you're under £50,000, it says so and why. If you're over the threshold, it gives the date you become liable, which of HMRC's two tests caught you, and your dates: registration opens on 1 January 2028, anyone liable in 2027 must register by 31 January 2028, and the first return and payment, for the whole of 2027, is due by 31 May 2028. After 2027 you normally have 30 days to register. It also lists what to do next, including keeping import records for 6 years.

If you answer before 2027 and expect to cross the threshold during the year, it estimates the month you'd become liable, assuming your imports are spread evenly, and warns that one large shipment could bring that forward.

How to use it

Have your import declarations or your customs broker's statements to hand, so you can use the customs value, the same value used for import duty. Answer the questions and the result updates as you go. The rules it applies are written out on the tool page, with links to HMRC's guidance.

New CBAM guides

UK CBAM: the complete guide for importers, covering scope, registration, returns and the 2028 quarterly dates.
How to work out a UK CBAM bill, step by step with a worked example for imported steel.
EU CBAM and UK CBAM: what's different and CBAM data and your Scope 3.

Earlier posts cover what your customers will ask you, the government's illustrative 2027 rates and default values and how to ask an overseas supplier for emissions data.

How Carbon Recycling helps

The CBAM charge depends on the emissions per tonne of what you import, and verified supplier figures are usually lower than the government defaults. On the Growth and Enterprise plans, supplier data requests let you ask a supplier for that figure through a secure link and add it to your Scope 3, so the same number serves both jobs. A CBAM pack to work out embedded emissions and the CBAM charge on your imports is coming soon. Our earlier free checker, Do I need a Carbon Reduction Plan?, works the same way for PPN 006 and the NHS rules.

Frequently asked questions

Is the CBAM checker free?

Yes. It needs no sign-up and doesn't ask for your name or email. It works out the result in your browser as you answer.

What threshold does it use?

HMRC's £50,000 registration threshold, by customs value, across all five CBAM sectors together. It applies both of HMRC's tests: £50,000 or more expected in the next 30 days, or £50,000 or more imported over the last 12 months, counting only imports from 1 January 2027.

Is the result tax advice?

No. It follows HMRC's published steps for working out whether and when you must register, and links to them. If your case is unusual, for example goods under a special customs procedure, check HMRC's guidance or ask a customs or tax adviser.

Can Carbon Recycling register me or file my CBAM returns?

No. We're not a customs agent or tax adviser. You register yourself through your Government Gateway account, and a tax agent can file returns for you.

New emission factor pages for Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the US and hotel stays in 37 countries
Free factor pages from each government's own data: Australian, Canadian and New Zealand factors, US fuels and travel, and hotel nights abroad.
Market-based Scope 2 now uses the UK residual fuel mix
With no green tariff or supplier figure, market-based Scope 2 now uses the DESNZ residual mix instead of copying the grid average.
Official government electricity factors for seven countries
Sites in Australia, Canada, China, France, Germany, New Zealand and Singapore now use their government's own grid factor where it is current.

All posts on this topic →

Get your figures and reports done in an afternoon

Add a year of bills and Carbon Recycling produces your footprint, PPN 006 Carbon Reduction Plan and SECR report, with every figure traced to its government factor. Prices are on the pricing page, from £59 a month + VAT.

Start free trial See prices

14 days free. No card needed.