Contractors need to pay CIS to HMRC on a monthly or quarterly basis. We will show you the options on how to make the CIS payment.
CIS deductions are paid to HMRC in the same way as employers make their PAYE and National Insurance payments.
We will go through the options that contractors have to pay their CIS owed to HMRC and what information is required.
Payments under the construction industry scheme are paid monthly or quarterly to HMRC.
Monthly payments – must be paid within 14 days of the tax month end or 17 days if paying electronically. For example the CIS return for the month ending 5th May must be paid to HMRC by 19th May by post or electronic payments by 22nd May.
If the contractor also has employees there may be PAYE & NI due. Typically CIS payments and PAYE & NI are paid over to HMRC at the same time on the same payment.
Quarterly payments – must be paid within 14 days of the quarter end or 17 days if paying electronically. The quarter ends are on 5th July, 5th October, 5th January and 5th April.
Quarterly payments can only be made if the average monthly liability for CIS, PAYE & NI totals less than £1,500 per month.
As long as the £1,500 per month limit is not exceeded, contractors can choose whether to pay monthly or quarterly.
Even if you choose to pay quarterly, the CIS returns must still be filed to HMRC on a monthly basis. Therefore most businesses that we deal with do prefer to make the CIS payment monthly. They find it easier to prepare the CIS monthly return and make the HMRC CIS payment at the same time.
Contractors can pay their CIS tax liability to HMRC in various ways. The most popular methods are using their online HMRC account, bank transfer, or using a debit or credit card.
We will go through each of these three payment methods in more detail below.
All of the options require the contractor to know their 13 digit Accounts Office Reference number. It will look something like this 123PA01234567.
To pay HMRC using your online HMRC account you need to login to your Government Gateway.
Within the manage taxes, you should have a PAYE & CIS option. Selecting this option should then allow you to make the payment to HMRC.
The HMRC bank details to make the bank transfer to are as follows:
Account Name – HMRC Cumbernauld
Account Number – 12001039
Sort Code – 08 32 10
You must provide your 13 digit accounts office reference number as the payment reference.
Click on this link to pay HMRC by card.
You will then be asked if you want to sign in. Selecting yes will take you to your HMRC account, which is the method we stated earlier. As a result, just select ‘no, pay without signing in’.
The next screens will then request your 13 digit accounts office reference, followed by your card details. Just complete the information requested by HMRC.
Yes, there are other payment methods including direct debit, cheques etc.
For alternative ways to pay HMRC see the following webpage which explains the various ways you can make payments to HMRC.
A Limited company contractor who is also a subcontractor may not have to make any payments over to HMRC.
Subcontractors who aren’t on gross payment status will suffer CIS deductions. These can be offset against any HMRC CIS payments owed. This option is only available to Limited companies. For more information on this see the following blog CIS repayments.
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