How CIS deductions work

If you're a registered subcontractor, your contractor takes 20% off your labour before paying you and sends it to HMRC. Unregistered, it's 30%. That money sits against your year-end tax bill.

Why most subbies overpay

The 20% comes off your labour with no account taken of your costs. Fuel, tools, PPE, phone, van insurance, the accountant's bill. Claim those properly on a tax return and your real tax bill usually lands well below what was already deducted. The difference is your refund.

The numbers

Our typical subcontractor client gets between £1,800 and £3,200 back for the previous tax year. Some get more, especially after years of never claiming anything.

How to claim

File a tax return after 6 April with all your allowable expenses in it. HMRC usually pays refunds within two to six weeks. That's the whole mechanism. The work is in getting the expenses right and having paperwork behind them.

What you need to bring us

  • CIS deduction statements from your contractors
  • Invoices you've issued
  • Bank statements
  • Fuel receipts and tool purchases, even photos of them

Missing some of it? Bring what you have. We rebuild the rest from bank data more often than not.