Subcontractors & CIS

If you are paid by a contractor rather than an employer, tax is deducted from your labour before the money reaches you, and your real tax position is only settled once your accounts and tax return are prepared. We look after that end to end, so you know what you owe or what is coming back, without chasing paperwork in January.

What we do for subcontractors

• Year-end accounts for your sole trade or partnership
• Self Assessment tax return prepared, explained and submitted
• CIS reconciliation: your contractor payment and deduction statements matched to your records, so every deduction is claimed
• Bookkeeping kept current through the year, or a review of the records you keep yourself
• Making Tax Digital for Income Tax: software setup, quarterly updates and the annual tax return
• CIS registration and verification questions sorted with your contractors
• Advice on invoicing so deductions apply to labour and not to your materials
• Payroll and CIS returns if you engage subcontractors of your own
• Whether a sole trade, partnership or limited company suits you

About CIS deductions and repayments

Deductions taken by contractors are payments on account of your own tax, not a final tax charge. Because they are taken from gross labour while your tax is worked out on profit, many subcontractors have paid more through the year than they finally owe, and a repayment follows when the return is filed. Whether that happens, and how much it is, depends entirely on your own figures; we will not promise you a refund before we have seen them.

Making Tax Digital for Income Tax is already in force

The first mandatory phase began on 6 April 2026. Sole traders and landlords with combined gross self-employment and property income before expenses over £50,000 in 2024–25 should already be using MTD, unless exempt. The later phases apply to qualifying income over £30,000 in 2025–26 from 6 April 2027 and over £20,000 in 2026–27 from 6 April 2028. Affected people keep digital records, send quarterly updates and submit their annual tax return through compatible software: updates do not replace the return, and tax payment dates do not change solely because of MTD. CIS itself does not exempt you, although other exemptions, including possible digital exclusion, may apply. Our guide for CIS subcontractors explains what applies, what stays the same and how to manage the reporting, and our Making Tax Digital service covers the setup and ongoing reporting.

How it works

We are a cloud-based practice working with clients across the UK, so there is no office visit and no box of receipts to drop off. You send your records digitally, we keep them in order, and you deal with the same person throughout.

Get in touch and tell us what you do and who you work for, and we will explain what we would do and what it would cost. You may also want our taxation services and planning or support services.