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United Kingdom

VAT for UK construction

The domestic reverse charge moved VAT off your invoice and onto the contractor above you, and it took that money out of your cash flow the same week. These guides cover registering, when the reverse charge applies, the work that is zero rated or charged at 5%, and filing under Making Tax Digital.

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7 guides on this

After you qualifyRegistering for VATWork out the exact month your rolling twelve month turnover tips over £90,000, what to invoice while you wait for the number, and why the reverse charge usually ends the Flat Rate Scheme case for a construction business.How to run the businessZero-Rated and 5% VATUK construction runs four VAT positions at once, and the gap between 20% and 5% on a £60,000 conversion is £9,000 on your customer's price. Tell on sight whether a job is 0%, 5% or 20%, with the Schedule and the paragraph of Notice 708 beside each rate, and know which four documents let you hold it.After you qualifySet up a UK companyIncorporation is one registration out of six, and the other five sit with HMRC. The whole sequence in order: what Companies House needs, what each HMRC registration is triggered by, what it costs, and the diary dates that follow.How to run the businessCIS gross payment statusGross payment status means the main contractor pays your invoice in full instead of holding 20% of the labour. This is the business, turnover and compliance tests with the paragraph of Schedule 11 beside each one, the arithmetic on £180,000 of labour a year, and the 90 days and 30 days that decide what happens if HMRC moves to cancel.How to run the businessVAT reverse chargeThe exact wording HMRC accepts on a reverse charge invoice, the six conditions that switch it on, why CIS takes materials out of the deduction while the reverse charge keeps them in, and how to pull your input VAT back a month faster.How to run the businessMTD for CIS SubcontractorsYour one Self Assessment return becomes four quarterly updates and a final declaration, and the test that catches you is turnover, not profit. Work out which step of the staircase you are on, what each update actually contains, and where your CIS deductions land.How to run the businessWhat an hour costs youTake a £280 day rate apart: 185 billable days, £15,220 of van, tools and pension, and £30,337 landing at £14.45 an hour. Then see what a priced job does to the same year.

Count it instead of estimating it

Construction VAT rate checkerNot every job is 20%. New dwellings are zero rated and a two-year empty home is 5%, with the conditions each rate depends on.Free, no signup.Making Tax Digital countdownQualifying income in. Which MTD for Income Tax tranche catches you, the date it starts, and the days left.Free, no signup.VAT reverse charge calculatorSix conditions decide whether you charge VAT at all. Answer them and the page builds the invoice, CIS deduction and all.Free, no signup.
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The rest of the United Kingdom library

The Construction Industry SchemeGetting paid on UK constructionPricing construction work in the UKStarting a construction business in the UKConstruction bookkeeping in the UKCSCS cards and site ticketsFinding construction work in the UKPayment notices and adjudication
Every guideThe whole United Kingdom libraryAfter you qualify