Accounting for construction and trades businesses.
We help with Gross Payment Status, track retentions across staged jobs, and handle Domestic Reverse Charge VAT invoicing so the numbers work the way a building business needs them to.
On 6 April 2026, Making Tax Digital (MTD) became mandatory for sole traders whose 2024/25 gross qualifying income exceeded £50,000.
The important bit: HMRC calculates this threshold using gross self-employment and property income before expenses. For trades, that includes the cost of the materials you buy and bill to clients. Even if your take-home profit is modest, high material costs mean many builders will cross the £50k line and have to submit quarterly digital updates.
A lot of the trades businesses we see are still using spreadsheets or loose receipts. We set up MTD-compatible digital bookkeeping with on-site receipt capture, so quarterly updates run from reconciled data.
We configure your bookkeeping to handle Construction Industry Scheme deductions, retentions held back across long jobs, Domestic Reverse Charge VAT, and Work In Progress: the things that need to be set up right from the start in a trades business.
Our CIS accounting service covers businesses paying subcontractors and businesses receiving deductions. We verify your subcontractors (0%, 20%, or 30%), file CIS returns when due, and review your labour arrangements to flag IR35 exposure and employment-status risk.
Losing GPS has a serious cashflow impact, and getting it back takes time. We keep the Corporation Tax and PAYE records in order and check the HMRC tests with you.
CIS deductions are tax paid to HMRC; contractual retentions are amounts a customer holds back until the agreed release conditions are met. If £500,000 of payments is wholly subject to deduction after VAT and qualifying direct costs are excluded, CIS at 20% or 30% is £100,000 or £150,000. Gross payment status means no CIS deduction. That tax is separate from any retention. We track retentions and Work In Progress inside your management accounts through the year, so you can see the gap between revenue earned and cash received before it becomes a problem.
The Domestic Reverse Charge has different rules depending on "End User" classifications. We format your invoices correctly and prepare VAT returns that follow the reverse-charge treatment.
Buying vans, diggers, or heavy equipment? We identify and apply your Annual Investment Allowance (AIA) and Full Expensing reliefs where eligible, which can reduce your Corporation Tax liability in the year of purchase.
Quote jobs, send invoices, and capture fuel and materials receipts from the van as the day happens, using a cloud accounting app. We configure it for the trade so the paperwork stops following you home.
The Construction Industry Scheme (CIS) has more frequent reporting than most other tax schemes: subcontractor verification, deduction calculation at 20% or 30%, CIS300 returns, and the records HMRC asks for when it tests your Gross Payment Status. We handle the CIS work when it falls due, so it is not left for you to sort out at the weekend.
Retentions are tracked inside your accounting software so you can see the gap between revenue earned and cash banked at any point. VAT is accounted for at the right stage (billing versus payment) and we flag retentions due for release as the contractual milestones come up, so the money does not sit forgotten on a job from two years ago.
Yes. To qualify for GPS, your business must pass HMRC's compliance and turnover tests. We prepare the records required, check your tax position, and manage the application process on your behalf.
Yes. If you engage subcontractors, we verify them with HMRC, calculate the correct 20% or 30% deductions, issue the payment and deduction statements they need for their own records, and file CIS returns when due. Where the working pattern looks closer to employment than self-employment, we flag the reclassification risk early rather than waiting for HMRC to raise it.
Domestic reverse charge compliance and quarterly VAT filings for construction firms.
ServiceCapital allowance claims on plant, machinery, and fleet to reduce your tax liability.
GuideContractor obligations, deduction rates, CIS300 returns, and Gross Payment Status.
We handle CIS, help you keep your Gross Payment Status, and get you ready for Making Tax Digital, all under one fixed fee agreed before the work starts.
Request a consultation