If you're a contractor under the Construction Industry
Scheme (CIS) you need to submit monthly returns to HM Revenue &
Customs (HMRC) listing all payments you've made to
subcontractors.
A small, but significant, change has been made to the ‘Monthly
Return - Introduction’ window when a contractor goes online on
the HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) website to submit their
contractor monthly return.
What has changed?
Previously, the contractor was asked to enter the date of their
return in the format: ‘Tax month starting, 6th [month] [year]’.
Many contractors told HMRC that this was confusing as a paper
return is dated in the ‘tax month ending’ format.
As a result, HMRC have decided that from 23 November 2009
onwards the date of
an online return will be changed to the ‘tax month ending
format’.
When did the change come into effect?
Contractors will have first noticed the change if they submitted
a return for November 2009. Instead of entering the date as ‘Tax
month starting 6th November 2009’, under the new rule a contractor
must enter ‘Tax month ending 5th December 2009’.
Users of commercial and third party software products are not
affected by this change.
What help is available?
If you have any questions about submitting your monthly returns
online you can call HMRC's CIS Helpline on 0845 366 7899 (open from
8.00 am to 8.00 pm, seven days a week). Many accountants offer
payroll and CIS Online services for their clients.
So you could ask an accountant to submit your monthly CIS returns
online for you.
Using CIS online
If you're a contractor, you can access CIS Online at
www.hmrc.gov.uk/cis/cis-online.htm
using:
- HMRC accredited EARNIE software
- HMRC free software (options under this category are very
basic and without support)
- Electronic Data Interchange (EDI)
EARNIE and CIS
The CIS module for EARNIE handles all your construction industry
payments. It performs all the necessary calculations using specific
CIS rules and connects directly to the HMRC Gateway. It even
verifies the tax status of each contractor to make your life
easier.
With EARNIE you can be confident you are fully complying with
HMRC legislation and are paying employees correctly. We can
provide you with training, either online or on site, to get you up
and running quickly.
Key benefits of using EARNIE for CIS
- Sub-contractors are kept in a separate company to PAYE
employees.
This ensures no mistakes can be made when reporting to HMRC
- EARNIE stores the UTR (Unique Tax Reference) for each of the
company
statuses of ‘Sole Trader’, ‘Partnership’, ‘Limited Companies’ and
‘Trusts’
- At the click of a button EARNIE will contact the HMRC’s Gateway
and verify
the tax status for any of the sub-contractors in the system
- Material and labour costs can be split between different
jobs
- Calculates VAT for VAT registered sub-contractors
- Prints invoices and Remittance Advice slips
- Provides electronic monthly tax returns to HRMC
- Provides a journal file which can be imported into IRIS
Accounts Office
and other accounts packages
- Can link sub-contractor companies to a PAYE company for
reporting
at the PAYE year end
- Withhold part of the payment until future pay periods
- Caters for CITB Training Levy
Call EARNIE today on 0844 815 5677 or email
sales@earnie.co.uk for a
FREE demonstration request or more product
information.
If you’re an accountant or an agent who files CIS returns on
clients’ behalf you
can also use CIS Online using HMRC accredited EARNIE software.