CIS Accountants in Birmingham
Construction Industry Scheme support for subcontractors and contractors. We reclaim overpaid CIS deductions through Self Assessment, file monthly CIS returns, and help with gross payment status, the VAT reverse charge and bookkeeping.
Most subcontractors have paid too much tax
CIS deductions are taken at a flat rate before your expenses and personal allowance are taken into account, so a refund is often due once the return is prepared properly.
Self Assessment returns prepared to recover CIS tax withheld at source.
Subcontractor verification, deduction statements and monthly CIS filing.
Applications, and help protecting the status once you hold it.
Self Assessment, expenses, mileage and CIS refund claims.
Verification, monthly returns, nil returns and deduction statements.
Reclaiming CIS suffered through your payroll rather than waiting.
Domestic reverse charge, digital records and MTD readiness.
Construction Industry Scheme Accounting and Tax
Under the Construction Industry Scheme, contractors deduct tax from subcontractors before paying them and send it directly to HMRC. Because that deduction is a flat rate taken before any expenses or your personal allowance are considered, most subcontractors end the year having paid more tax than they owe.
Gondal Accountancy prepares CIS tax returns for subcontractors, reclaims what has been overpaid, and handles the contractor side too — verification, monthly returns and deduction statements. We are based on Stratford Road in Hall Green and work with trades across Birmingham and the West Midlands.
CIS Accounting Services
Support on both sides of the scheme, whether deductions are taken from you or by you.
CIS Tax Returns and Refunds
Self Assessment returns for subcontractors, with allowable expenses reviewed and overpaid CIS deductions reclaimed from HMRC.
Monthly CIS Returns
Subcontractor verification, monthly CIS return filing, nil returns and payment and deduction statements for contractors.
Gross Payment Status
Checking whether you qualify, making the application, and keeping your compliance record clean so the status is not withdrawn.
VAT Reverse Charge and Bookkeeping
The domestic reverse charge for construction, digital record keeping, invoices, materials records and Making Tax Digital preparation.
How Much Is Deducted, and Why It Is Usually Too Much
The rate applied to your invoices depends only on whether you are registered for CIS and whether you hold gross payment status. It takes no account of what you have spent on tools, travel or insurance, and none of your personal allowance.
Deductions apply to the labour element of an invoice, not to materials you have supplied. If a contractor has deducted from your materials as well, that is worth checking before the return is prepared.
30% — Not registered
Contractors must deduct at the higher rate from subcontractors who are not registered for CIS. Registering is straightforward and usually worth doing immediately.
20% — Registered
The standard rate for registered subcontractors. It is taken from the labour element of your invoice, not from materials.
0% — Gross payment status
No deductions are taken and you settle your tax and National Insurance at the year end instead. It transforms cash flow, but the compliance bar is high.
Support for Subcontractors and Contractors
How you recover CIS deductions depends on whether you are self-employed or working through a company. The two routes are not interchangeable.
Sole Trader Subcontractors
Deductions are reclaimed through your Self Assessment return once expenses and your personal allowance are applied. This is where most refunds arise.
Limited Company Subcontractors
CIS suffered is set against your PAYE liabilities through the payroll year rather than reclaimed on a personal return, which needs the payroll and CIS records to agree.
Contractors Paying Subcontractors
If you pay subcontractors you have obligations of your own: verification, deductions at the right rate, monthly returns and statements.
What Changed in the Construction Industry Scheme
A set of CIS reforms took effect from 6 April 2026. Two of them matter a great deal if you hold gross payment status or pay subcontractors.
Nil returns are mandatory again
Contractors must file a monthly return even in months with no subcontractor payments, unless HMRC has been notified in advance of an inactive period. This requirement was removed in 2015 and has now returned.
Stronger HMRC powers over supply-chain fraud
Where HMRC considers a business knew, or should have known, that a transaction was connected to fraudulent tax evasion, it can remove gross payment status immediately and charge a penalty of up to 30% of the tax lost.
Five-year wait to reapply for gross payment status
Where the status is withdrawn on these grounds, the period before a business can reapply has increased from one year to five. For a subcontractor with substantial turnover, that is a long time to have 20% held back.
Public body payments taken outside CIS
Payments to local authorities and certain other public bodies are now exempt from the scheme, replacing the extra-statutory concession that previously applied.
CIS rules, rates and deadlines are set by HMRC and change from time to time. For the current position see GOV.UK guidance on the Construction Industry Scheme, or ask us to review your position.
Why Use a CIS Accountant?
Claim what you are actually owed
Tools, protective equipment, mileage, insurance, phone and other genuine costs reduce your taxable profit and increase the refund due.
Keep your compliance record clean
Gross payment status and your relationship with contractors both depend on filing and paying on time. We keep the deadlines tracked.
Know where you stand on MTD
Making Tax Digital for Income Tax uses gross income rather than profit, so many subcontractors are caught by it earlier than they expect.
Why Choose Gondal Accountancy?
- CIS refund claims for sole trader subcontractors through Self Assessment.
- Limited company CIS recovered through payroll rather than left sitting with HMRC.
- Monthly CIS returns, verification and deduction statements for contractors.
- Gross payment status applications and compliance monitoring.
- Domestic reverse charge and VAT return support for construction.
- Several years of outstanding returns brought up to date together.
- Fixed fees agreed before we start, and a free first conversation.
Our CIS Accounting Process
A straightforward process, whether you are claiming a refund or filing as a contractor.
- We discuss how you work, who pays you, whether you are registered for CIS and which tax years need to be dealt with.
- You send us your payment and deduction statements, invoices, bank records, expense receipts and mileage records.
- We check the deductions taken against your statements and identify anything missing or deducted at the wrong rate.
- We prepare the Self Assessment return, or the monthly CIS returns and statements if you are the contractor.
- We explain the figures, tell you what refund is due or what is owed, and file once you have approved everything.
Find Out What Your CIS Refund Is Worth
Send us your payment and deduction statements and we will tell you what you are likely owed and what it costs to claim it, before you commit to anything.
CIS Accountants FAQs
Deduction rates, refunds, allowable expenses, monthly returns, gross payment status and the VAT reverse charge.
Contractors deduct 30% from subcontractors who are not registered for CIS and 20% from those who are. Subcontractors with gross payment status have nothing deducted and settle their tax at the year end. Deductions apply to the labour element of an invoice, not to materials.
Often, yes. CIS is deducted at a flat rate before your allowable expenses and personal allowance are taken into account, so most subcontractors have paid more than they owe by the end of the year. Whether a refund is actually due depends on your total income, your expenses and any other tax you owe. We work it out as part of preparing your return.
If you are a sole trader, the deductions are reported on your Self Assessment return and any overpayment is repaid by HMRC after the return is filed. If you work through a limited company, CIS suffered is set against the company’s PAYE liabilities through the payroll instead, which is a different process and needs the payroll records to match the CIS records.
Typically tools and equipment, protective clothing, business mileage or vehicle running costs, public liability insurance, phone costs, and accountancy fees. Materials you have paid for are handled separately because CIS deductions should not have been taken from them in the first place. Ordinary clothing and travel between home and a permanent workplace are not usually allowable.
You are not obliged to, but if you do not register, contractors must deduct at 30% instead of 20%. Registering is free and quick, and you can usually recover the difference through your tax return afterwards. There is rarely a good reason to stay unregistered.
CIS tax months run to the 5th, and the return is due by the 19th of the same month. Deductions are paid to HMRC by the 22nd if paying electronically, or the 19th by post. A return that is even one day late attracts an automatic penalty, which increases the longer it stays outstanding.
Yes. From April 2026, contractors must file a monthly return even where no subcontractors were paid, unless HMRC has been told in advance of a period of inactivity. This reinstates a requirement that was removed in 2015, and it is the change most likely to catch out contractors with irregular subcontractor use.
There are three tests. The business test asks whether you genuinely carry out construction work in the UK. The turnover test looks for net construction turnover of at least £30,000 per relevant person, or £100,000 for a company as a whole. The compliance test looks at whether your returns and payments across Self Assessment, Corporation Tax, PAYE and VAT have been made on time. The compliance test is the one businesses usually fail.
Deductions resume at 20%, which has an immediate effect on cash flow. Since April 2026 HMRC can remove the status with immediate effect where it considers a business knew, or should have known, that it was connected to fraudulent tax evasion, and can charge a penalty of up to 30% of the tax lost, which may be applied to the business or its officers. The wait before reapplying in those circumstances has risen from one year to five.
The domestic reverse charge means that for most construction services supplied between VAT-registered businesses within CIS, the customer accounts for the VAT rather than the supplier charging it. If it applies, you invoice without VAT and state that the reverse charge applies. It significantly affects cash flow for subcontractors who were used to holding VAT between returns.
It affects sole trader subcontractors. Making Tax Digital for Income Tax applies in stages based on qualifying income, which is gross income rather than profit. Because CIS deductions are taken from gross payments, a subcontractor can be brought into MTD on a turnover figure that looks nothing like their take-home pay. It is worth checking where you stand rather than assuming.
Yes, and this is common in construction. We can bring several years up to date together, reconstruct records where statements are missing, deal with HMRC correspondence and review whether penalties can be appealed. Refunds may still be recoverable for earlier years within HMRC time limits.
Yes. We support subcontractors and contractors across Birmingham, Solihull, Coventry and the wider West Midlands from our office on Stratford Road in Hall Green, and clients elsewhere in the UK remotely. Most CIS work is handled by phone, email and photographed statements without anyone needing to come in.
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