In this section:
- Monthly returns and record keeping under CIS
- Using CIS Online
- CIS Online login page
- Correcting monthly return and payment errors
- Late returns and late return penalties under CIS
Monthly returns and record keeping under CIS
If you're a contractor under the Construction Industry Scheme (CIS) there are certain rules you'll need to follow. For example, you have to tell us each month about all the payments you've made to your subcontractors within the scheme. You do this by making a monthly return.
To help us check you're making your monthly returns correctly we expect you to keep records of your payments to subcontractors. You have to keep these records for a certain length of time so that we can check them when we need to.
This guide will help you if you're a contractor who needs to make monthly CIS returns. It explains how to go about making your return and tells you what happens about late returns, errors and months when you haven't paid any subcontractors. It also gives a basic overview of the records you must keep.
On this page:
- What you need for making your monthly returns
- Checks and information for your monthly returns
- When to send us your monthly returns
- Nil returns, later returns and mistakes
- Record keeping for CIS contractors
What you need for making your monthly returns
To make your monthly returns you'll need to get hold of the right paperwork - or software - and have the right information to hand so you can fill in the return. Then you'll need to send it back to us on time.
Making electronic returns (recommended)
We recommend making your monthly returns electronically as this is the easiest and most efficient method. To do this you'll need one of the following:
- Internet access and a web browser so you can use our free CIS Online service
- commercial software that can handle electronic CIS filing
- access to Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) and the appropriate systems
If you want to send us your monthly returns online you'll need to register for our CIS Online service. Once you've done this you'll be able to send us your return almost instantly through our website any time of the day or night.
You'll also be able to do this if you to use commercial CIS software. You'll need to choose software that can work with our own systems. You can see a list of CIS software that we've tested and approved on our website.
If you're a large contractor with a lot of subcontractors you might decide to use EDI. You'll need to register for EDI - if you haven't already - and set up your systems to use this method.
Register for the CIS Online service
See a list of recognised CIS software packages
Obtain the registration form for EDI (PDF 49K)
Read about how to use the CIS Online service
Making paper returns
When you register with us we'll send you a contractor pack that includes a blank copy of form CIS300 - the monthly return form. Once you're registered we'll send you a paper return towards the end of each tax month. A tax month starts on the sixth day of one month and ends on the fifth day of the following month.
We'll save you some time by filling in the returns we send you with some of the information we've already got about your business. And once we know about the subcontractors you use we'll save you more time by 'pre-populating' the return forms with details of subcontractors you've recently verified or included on a return.
However you choose to file your monthly returns, you'll also need to have the right information to hand when you fill in each return.
To make your monthly return by post you'll need to send it in good time to:
Construction Industry Scheme
Liverpool
L75 1HL
Checks and information for your monthly returns
Whatever method you use to make your monthly returns, the first thing you should do each month is check any pre-populated information we've put onto the form. You'll need to:
- make sure that the details for your own business are right
- check that any details about your subcontractors are right
- add information about any new contractors who aren't already on the form
Once you're happy that the details are complete and correct, you'll need to:
- put in details of all the payments you've made to each subcontractor during the last tax month
- include details of any deductions you've made from each payment
The return includes a declaration that your subcontractors are properly self-employed and were not taken on under terms that would make them employees. It also includes a declaration that you verified all the subcontractors on the return if you needed to. When you're happy that everything's correct, sign the form where you're asked to if it's a paper one or confirm it if it's electronic.
Using the correct return date when filing online
Please note the online return submission page asks you to enter data
for a ‘Month commencing’ date rather than the more usual ‘Month ending’
date. For example, if you are going to submit your online return information
for the tax month 6 October 2008 to 5 November 2008 you will need to
enter the month start date, which is the 6 October,
on your online return.
Find out how to pay your subcontractors under CIS
Read about your obligations as a CIS contractor
When to send us your monthly returns
Your monthly return must always reach us no later than 14 days after the end of the tax month it's for. This means the return must get to us no later than the 19th day of each month.
For example, if you're making a return to cover payments you made in the tax month from 6 May to 5 June, it must reach us by 19 June.
Make sure you always get your returns in on time. If you don't, you'll get a penalty. Send us your return in good time even if there are still some issues about it that you're discussing with us.
If you're making a paper return, be sure to:
- sign it - if you don't we'll send it back and you could miss the deadline
- post it in good time - always allow for postal delays
Nil returns, late returns and mistakes
From time to time you might have a month when something unusual happens with your monthly return.
Nil returns
If you're a CIS contractor you have to make a return every month - even if you didn't pay any subcontractors during the last tax month. If this happens, you have to make a 'nil return'.
If you normally send in a paper return, just fill in the section for nil returns and send it to us as normal.
If you normally make your returns electronically you can use this method to make a nil return.
Alternatively, you can make a nil return by calling our CIS Helpline on Tel 0845 366 7899 (open from 8.00 am until 8.00 pm, seven days a week).
If you know you're not going to be paying any subcontractors for a while let us know. We can stop sending you monthly return forms for up to six months. But whenever you do start paying subcontractors again you must be sure to send us a monthly return when it's due.
Late returns
If you don't get your monthly return to us by the deadline you'll get an automatic £100 penalty. If there are more than 50 subcontractors on the return the penalty's higher - it goes up by £100 for every 50 subcontractors.
For example, if there were 55 subcontractors on a late return there'd be a £200 penalty. If there were 120 subcontractors on it the penalty would be £300.
You'll need to make nil returns on time too to avoid a £100 penalty.
We charge the penalties for each month that a return's late. So the penalty for a return with 55 subcontractors on it would be £400 if it were two months late.
Mistakes on returns
If you make a mistake on a paper return before you send it in, just put a line through it and then put in the right information.
It's easy to correct mistakes you make before you submit a return online - just delete whatever's wrong and put in the right details.
If you realise you've made a mistake on your return after you've sent it, what you need to do next depends on the type of mistake it is. Sometimes you'll need to contact us to get it sorted out, but at other times it may be possible to sort things out between you and your subcontractor. If you need to contact us about a mistake on your return call our CIS Helpline as soon as possible on Tel 0845 366 7899 (open from 8.00 am until 8.00 pm seven days a week).
You'll get more information about how to deal with different types of mistake in our guide to sorting out monthly return and payment errors under CIS.
Find out how to deal with mistakes on your monthly CIS return
Record keeping for CIS contractors
If you're a construction industry contractor we'll expect you to keep certain records. You'll need to keep details of:
- the gross amount of each payment you make to a subcontractor - excluding any VAT
- the amount of any deduction you made from a payment before you gave it to the subcontractor
- if you made a deduction, the amount of any materials costs - excluding any VAT
We'll check these records from time to time - just like we check employers' PAYE (Pay As You Earn) records.
You must keep your records for at least three years after the end of the tax year they're for. If we ask to see them you'll need to make them available and provide any facilities we need to look at them. We may ask you for full sized copies.
You can archive your records on an imaging system like microfiche as long as you keep an unchanged image of the originals.
