Workers in Construction Industry Scheme

/in , , , , , , , , , /by

We recently came across a client who got very confused about becoming a limited company and his tax position.

If people are both self employed and/or employed and they only work part of a tax year on that basis, it is likely that they would not have time and understanding of the implications of becoming an employee of their own limited company to organise their own salary in the first few months of trading.
The situation will then exist that they have a tax return to do for April 5th which has only a part years earnings, which gives rise to a personal tax rebate.
The limited company then has a payroll scheme of its own for future tax efficient drawings.
So year one of setting up a limited company can appear very beneficial (contact Taxfile to set up an ltd as a one stop shop for all your tax needs).
Year two may then give rise to a profit which can be taxed as employee’s drawings (director) and if the director is prudent by leaving a tax reserve in the firm at the year end, then a potential tax efficient dividend may be possible (remember you can choose your year end to be a point when adequate reserves are in hand, you can only change it once in every five years. (Come to Taxfile to make sure you get the best year end solution).
The scheme for the taxing of the directors drawings and the subcontracted workers can be easily administered by the director, if there is a good margin between the gross works done and the labour costs then it is usual to see a favourable set off position at the end of each month.
To sum up, the business may have had 20% stopped on more of the income than the tax it has stopped from the subcontracted worker, this being the case then no tax needs to be handed to HMRC that month, the contractor/director must complete a CIS 300 list every month to state the tax stopped from every verified subcontractor ( HMRC do a great DIY course which is free to attend).
Any surplus tax suffered can be reclaimed back to the company at payroll year end 5th April on the companies p35 (it can take a few months for HMRC to agree the repayment as sometimes they ask for proof of the tax suffered, so good records of the work done and tax suffered are essential), once the tax is rebated then it comes back to the company to bolster the reserves.
The company accountant (come to Taxfile for the best in service from a Taxfile accountant) will then advise you of your corporation tax assuming you have supplied your banking records (preferably quarterly by online bank downloads which can be easily uploaded for analysis) . The corporation tax is due 9 months after the year end, so a good CIS rebate can often cover the corporation tax if the company is a labour only supplier which makes a reasonable margin after retentions.

If you are still confused about the way the Construction Industry Scheme (CIS) works you can always rely on Taxfile’s tax specialists in South London and Exeter to guide you through any potential tax issues.

Casual labour / subcontracting

/in , , , , , , , , , , , , , /by

It is not widely known that you must establish someone’s status when you pay them any money for helping you with their labour.The trick or tip is to get them to supply their unique tax reference number. They should invoice you for their services . If they don’t offer an invoice, it’s best to issue a self billing invoice for them to sign at the time you hand over the money.
Lots of people will offer their services to you if you have work which needs doing. In some industries it’s well regulated such as within the Construction Industry Scheme (CIS).
Most labour suppliers will be registered as self employed or a partnership and frequently these days as a limited company.
Each of them will have its own unique tax reference number (UTR).
They are not obliged to put this on their invoice to you.
You must request it if you fall into the classification termed by the government as a contractor or subcontractor.
There is a useful helpline for Construction Industry Scheme if you are not sure about your position and always try to get professional tax advice from companies like Taxfile in South London where their tax accountants make sure to sort out all your tax affairs.
If for example you are doing up a buy to let then you do not necessarily have to register just for this one activity, just make sure you follow the invoicing guidelines as above.
It may seem a lot to ask of the person doing the work for you but these days you just can’t be sure of how the government will react if they discover you have paid someone without adequate proof that they are registered to pay tax on their own profits.
For more information on the new CIS you can refer back to our blog post dated 25th August 2007 entitled ”What is the Construction Industry Scheme?”