Getting Started

Quickstart

From account creation to your first submitted declaration in five steps.

Step 1 — Sign in

Go to freightcode.co.uk and click Gain Access. Join the waitlist or sign in with your existing account. Once approved, you'll land on your Dashboard.

Step 2 — Connect HMRC

From the Dashboard, click Connect HMRC. You'll be redirected to HMRC's OAuth login page. Sign in with your Government Gateway credentials and authorise freightcode® to act on your behalf.

Once authorised, the button turns green showing HMRC Connected with the token expiry date. freightcode® refreshes your token automatically before it expires.

Step 3 — Create a declaration

Go to Declarations in the sidebar and click New Declaration. Fill in:

• Origin Country — the country the goods are from
• HS Code — the 10-digit commodity code (optional at creation)
• Description — a short description of the goods

Click Create Declaration. You'll be taken straight to the Goods Items tab to complete the declaration details.

Step 4 — Complete the declaration

The declaration workspace has five tabs:

• Core Schema — your EORI number, declaration type (H1), customs routing, and dispatch country.
• Goods Items — commodity code, procedure code (e.g. 4000), additional procedure code (e.g. 000), origin country, gross and net weight, and supporting document codes.
• Submission — review and submit to HMRC CDS.
• HMRC Status — live notifications from HMRC (DMSACC, DMSROG, DMSCLE, DMSREJ).
• Documents — supporting documents linked to this declaration.

Step 5 — Submit

Go to the Submission tab and click Submit to HMRC. freightcode® will:

• Validate all required CDS fields
• Map your data to WCO DEC-DMS:2 XML
• POST to HMRC CDS
• Store the MRN and X-Conversation-ID for notification tracking

A successful submission returns 202 Accepted and moves the declaration to Processing status. HMRC notifications (DMSACC → DMSROG → DMSCLE) will appear in the HMRC Status tab as they arrive.