The CIS accountant who gets your money back.

Very often, yes. Your contractor deducts 20 per cent of your labour and pays it to HMRC as an advance against your tax. Once we apply your personal allowance, deduct your allowable expenses (tools, mileage, insurance, protective clothing, use of home) and account for any materials you supplied, the tax actually due is usually far less than what was deducted, so HMRC repays the difference after your Self Assessment is filed for the year ended 5 April.

20 per cent applies if you're registered as a subcontractor and HMRC can verify you against your details. 30 per cent is the penalty rate for subcontractors who aren't registered for CIS or can't be matched when the contractor verifies them. Registering is quick and free, and we'll do it for you, it's almost always worth dropping from 30 per cent to 20 per cent, and better still to apply for 0 per cent gross payment status.

You apply to HMRC and must pass three tests: a genuine UK construction business run through a business bank account, net turnover of at least £30,000 per partner or director (excluding VAT and materials), and a clean compliance record. It's worth it if cashflow matters, you're paid in full and settle tax at year end rather than waiting for a refund. The catch is HMRC's annual review: one late CIS return or payment can lose you the status, so we keep your filings watertight.

If both you and your customer are VAT-registered, the work is reported under CIS, and your customer isn't the end user, then yes, the domestic reverse charge applies. You don't charge VAT on that invoice; your customer accounts for it. It doesn't apply when you supply an end user (like a homeowner) or a non-VAT-registered customer. We set your software up so it's applied automatically and your returns stay correct.

You must verify each subcontractor with HMRC before their first payment, deduct at the right rate (20 per cent, 30 per cent or 0 per cent), give each subcontractor a payment and deduction statement, file a CIS300 monthly return by the 19th, including a nil return in quiet months, and pay the deductions to HMRC by the 22nd (electronic) or 19th (post). Miss a return and automatic penalties start at £100. We run the whole monthly cycle for you.

Yes. We work with Xero, QuickBooks, FreeAgent and Sage, and we'll configure the CIS and reverse-charge settings correctly on whichever you use. If you don't have software yet, we'll recommend the best fit for a construction business, particularly important ahead of Making Tax Digital for Income Tax, which starts for those with income over £50,000 from April 2026.

We use fixed, transparent pricing, £129, £250 or £499 per month depending on whether you're a subcontractor, a contractor running monthly CIS returns, or a limited company needing the full package. It's rolling monthly with no long tie-in, you get a named qualified accountant who replies within 72 hours, and we back it with a 30-day money-back guarantee.

Yes. We're a London-based firm, working from Hammersmith in West London (W6), and we act for CIS subcontractors and contractors right across London and the whole of the UK, from a one-van sole trader to a firm running a gang of subbies. So whether you were looking for CIS accountants in London or just a specialist near you, it all runs remotely: you send photos of your invoices and statements, we handle the verification, the monthly returns and your refund claim, and you get a named qualified accountant on the end of the phone wherever your sites are. You don't need to sit in an office to get proper CIS help, just a CIS accountant who works the scheme every day.

It depends how you trade. If you run a limited company, we don't wait for year end: your CIS accountant offsets the CIS deducted from you against the PAYE and National Insurance you owe each month, so the money comes back through the year instead of sitting at HMRC. If you're a sole trader, the refund comes through your Self Assessment after the tax year ends on 5 April, and HMRC usually repays within a few weeks of us filing, though it can take longer when they're busy or open a check. The biggest delay we see is missing paperwork, so the sooner your deduction statements reach us, the sooner the refund lands.

You can do it yourself, and plenty of people start out that way. The trouble is CIS is where small mistakes get expensive: subbies left on the 30 per cent rate for years, refunds never claimed, nil returns forgotten, £100 penalties stacking up. Most subcontractors who come to us are already owed money they didn't know they could reclaim, and the refund we get back usually covers the year's fee on its own. If your affairs are simple and you're on top of the deadlines, you can manage. If you'd rather be on the tools than chasing statements and filing by the 19th, that's exactly what we're for.