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Tax and CIS

CIS, the reverse charge,
and what HMRC expects.

Seven articles on the two tax regimes that touch almost every construction payment made in the UK, and the deadlines that carry an automatic penalty when they slip.

7 articles

Tax and CIS, in one place.

CIS and the VAT domestic reverse charge are separate rules that apply to the same invoice, and firms routinely get one right and the other wrong. CIS decides how much of the labour element you hand to HMRC instead of to the subcontractor. The reverse charge decides which of you accounts for the VAT, and it turns off only when the customer confirms in writing that they are an end user.

Both carry deadlines rather than judgement calls, which is what makes them worth reading about once and then automating. The CIS deduction calculator handles the arithmetic on a single payment.

A hand writing on documents at a deskTax and CIS··4 min readGetting gross payment status, and keeping itThree tests, and the one that catches firms out is the compliance test, which now looks at VAT as well. The turnover thresholds, the tolerances HMRC actually allows, and what puts the status at risk.Read it →Two colleagues at a desk after reaching an agreementTax and CIS··3 min readVerifying a subcontractor with HMRCThe step that decides the rate you deduct at, and the one firms do after paying rather than before. What verification returns, how long it lasts, and who carries the cost of getting it wrong.Read it →A technical drawing being marked up at a deskTax and CIS··9 min readWhat counts as construction work under CISHMRC's included list is wider than most firms assume, and its excluded list catches out the trades that read it. The mixed contract rule decides more real cases than either.Read it →Two people working through a drawing at a desk with laptopsTax and CIS··5 min readCIS monthly returns, the date and the penaltiesThe nineteenth, every month, whether or not you paid anybody. What the penalty ladder actually looks like, and the declaration on the return that carries more weight than the figures.Read it →A modern office interiorTax and CIS··5 min readEnd user statements, and what they switch offIt has to be in writing, it comes from your customer rather than from you, and without it the reverse charge applies by default. What the statement says and where it belongs.Read it →Two colleagues at a desk after reaching an agreementTax and CIS··8 min readThe VAT reverse charge, and who accounts for the VATFive years in and it still catches firms out on every second invoice. When it applies, when it does not, the written statement that switches it off, and the wording your invoice has to carry.Read it →A modern office interiorTax and CIS··7 min readReclaiming CIS deductions, and the money sitting with HMRCA limited company gets its deductions back through payroll rather than its Corporation Tax return, and only if somebody files the right submission every month.Read it →

Other subjects

Site servicesThe three services a site cannot open without, what each one costs to put in, and the compliance estate that sits behind them once it is running.3 articlesGetting paidTen articles on what the Housing Grants, Construction and Regeneration Act 1996 gives a subcontractor: a right to be paid on a fixed timetable, and remedies for when that timetable is missed.10 articlesCommercialEleven articles on the commercial side of a contracting business: what belongs in a price, what routinely gets left out of one, and where the margin goes between winning a job and closing the final account.11 articlesHealth and safety13 articles on what the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015 and RIDDOR require, who holds each duty, and what an inspector asks to see first.13 articlesTax and CISSeven articles on the two tax regimes that touch almost every construction payment made in the UK, and the deadlines that carry an automatic penalty when they slip.7 articlesChoosing softwareTwelve articles written for the person who has to make the decision rather than the person selling into it, including what the money goes on, what the support arrangement is really worth, and where the systems you already run reach their limit.12 articlesWinning workThree articles on the paperwork that decides whether you are allowed to price a job at all, which is a different problem from pricing it well.3 articlesReducing riskSix articles on spotting a main contractor in difficulty early enough to act on it, and on what can still be recovered once it is too late to.6 articlesSubcontractorsFinding them, checking them, and paying them without an argument about what the invoice should have said.3 articlesPlant and assetsPlant and stock cost money in the same quiet ways: kit nobody can find, materials bought twice, a delivery never checked against the order, hire nobody stopped, and an examination date nobody was watching.6 articles
Next step

One invoice, two regimes, one system.

CIS and the reverse charge land on the same invoice, and firms routinely get one right and the other wrong. Unibuild takes the deduction on the labour element only, records CIS suffered on your own sales invoices alongside the reverse charge, and works to HMRC tax months so each period closes into a CIS300 return pack.

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