Computation of material for CIS deductions

It is Monday morning and all is well and then the post arrives. There it is that innocent letter from HMRC warning of an impending construction industry scheme (CIS) compliance review for a contractor client. Many readers will deal with those in the building industry but for those who are unfamiliar with it a brief summary may be in order. The CIS provides that unless they are registered to receive gross payments contractors must make a deduction of 20% or 30% from payments to subcontractors on account of the latter’s eventual tax liability. Some costs charged by the subcontractor can be subtracted when calculating the deduction and some types of work may be exempt from the scheme.

The construction industry scheme is often an area where contractors may have intended to make some changes but one that often falls through the cracks. For example are contractors within...