CIS Subcontractor

The Construction Industry Scheme (or CIS) is a special way of taxing self-employed workers in the construction industry. The following pages will look at the most important aspects of the scheme but to get an overall understanding, you may also want to look at our Construction Industry Tax pages.

Key points:

1 – Under CIS, subcontract workers normally have 20% tax deducted from the income

2 – The definitions of ‘contractor’, and ‘construction industry’ are quite complex, but you should expect to fall under the scheme for almost all building work you do for anyone other than a private homeowner.

3 – Subcontractors in construction need to register under CIS as well as being registered as self-employed.

Key dangers for subcontractors

All the usual requirements of self-employment and self assessment apply to CIS subcontractors but there are some special issues too. Key dangers include:

• Failing to register as a subcontractor
• Double taxation
• Identity fraud
• Inflated refunds –and unscrupulous advisers
• Employment status issues: are you employed or self-employed?
• Failure to register as a contractor when paying people who help you on a job

Further information and advice

If you have any question about CIS or the way the CIS scheme is being operated by the contractor (i.e. the firm for which you work) you should contact the HMRC CIS helpline – 0845 366 7899.

There is more information about CIS at http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/cis/index.htm