Guides
VAT, the Construction Industry Scheme, and paying yourself from a limited company. Every guide states the tax year it covers, the date the figures were checked, and links to the HMRC page they came from.
VAT #
6 guidesRegistration, thresholds and returns. The rules that cost the most when you get them wrong.
When you must register, how to do it, how long HMRC takes, and what to invoice while you wait for your number.
The deadline, the penalty points system, and the late payment charges that rose in April 2025.
VAT on food, electricity, cars, clothes, taxis, imports and disbursements, and why exempt is not the same as zero rated.
Reverse charge VAT for construction
Why subcontractors do not charge VAT to a contractor, what an end user is, and how it splits an invoice differently from CIS.
How it works, the limited cost test that killed it for service businesses, and the two thresholds that are measured differently.
Have you crossed the threshold?
The threshold runs on a rolling 12 months, not your accounting year. Enter your figures and find out.
Construction Industry Scheme #
7 guidesCIS in full, from the deduction on a single invoice through to the refund at the end of the year.
The three rates, 0%, 20% and 30%, when each applies, and what the higher rate actually costs you.
What counts as materials under CIS
The single most common calculation error. What comes out before the rate is applied, and what does not.
Registering as a subcontractor drops your rate from 30% to 20%. Registering as a contractor is compulsory.
The monthly return contractors file, the 19th deadline, why nil returns still count, and what late filing costs.
Being paid in full with no deduction at all. The three tests, the thresholds, and how status gets withdrawn.
CIS payment and deduction statements
What the contractor must give you, by when, and what to do when a statement never arrives.
Why subcontractors overpay, how the refund is claimed through Self Assessment, and how long it takes.
Corporation Tax #
3 guidesWhat the company itself pays, when it is due, and the band between the two rates that costs the most.
Corporation tax payment and deadlines
You pay before you file. The 9 month payment date, the 12 month filing date, instalments, and what late costs.
Work out the tax on your profit
The 19% and 25% rates, marginal relief at 26.5%, and the associated company rule that divides the limits.
The rates, the two pools, and the two changes in 2026: the main pool rate fell to 14% and a 40% first-year allowance began.
Self Assessment #
3 guidesThe dates, and the payment on account that doubles a first tax bill without warning.
Deadlines and payments on account
Every date for the open return, why January asks for more than you earned last year, and the two ways out of payments on account.
The 5 October deadline, what a UTR is and where to find it, and how to get an SA302 for a mortgage.
How to pay and how long each method takes, what filing and paying late costs, and how a repayment reaches you.
Employing people, and what you can claim #
3 guidesWage rates set by law, and the costs you are allowed to take off your profit before tax.
The four tests a gift must pass, the £300 a year cap for company directors, and why £50.01 is taxable in full rather than by a penny.
Every rate from 1 April 2026, the apprentice rate that expires, and what underpaying costs.
What you can and cannot claim, the uniform tax rebate, use of home as office, and subsistence.
On site: cards, contracts and getting paid #
5 guidesNot tax, but the things a construction business has to deal with to work at all and to get paid for it.
Every card colour and who it is for, the £36 cost, what you need to qualify, and how to apply.
The CITB health and safety test: 50 questions, 45 minutes, and a 90% pass mark.
Twenty free practice questions, marked against the real 90% pass mark, every answer explained and sourced.
Why renewal means retaking the test, what it costs, and what to do if a card is lost or expired.
The Construction Act, the notified sum, the right to suspend after 7 days, and how retention works.
Selling up, reliefs and HMRC #
4 guidesGetting money out of a business you are leaving, claiming what you are owed, and what happens when HMRC asks questions.
Business Asset Disposal Relief
Formerly entrepreneurs relief: 18% from April 2026, the £1m lifetime limit, and the tax on selling a business.
The merged scheme, what a 20% credit is really worth after tax, and Enhanced R&D Intensive Support.
What the investigation letter means, how far back HMRC can go, and why telling them first cuts the penalty to nil.
What must be in writing by day one, notice periods, and the terms the law adds whether you write them or not.
Closing down or pausing #
3 guidesEnding the company, or keeping it on the register without trading. Two very different filing obligations.
The £50 fee charged once a year not once a filing, the 14 day window, and the identity verification you now need before you can file at all.
The DS01 strike off, the conditions, the 7 day notice, and the £25,000 rule that decides how the last of the cash is taxed.
Companies House and HMRC use two different tests. A company can be dormant for one and active for the other.
Contracting and IR35 #
2 guidesWorking through your own company, and the rules that decide how it is taxed.
Inside and outside, who decides, the three tests, and what a Status Determination Statement must say.
Sole trader vs limited company
The same profit run both ways, at the rates that changed in April 2026.
Payroll #
4 guidesRunning a payroll, starting with the two reference numbers everyone mixes up.
What a P11D is, what P11D value means, the 6 July deadline, and how payrolling benefits replaces it.
The free software HMRC recognises under 10 employees, what a bureau costs, and every duty with its deadline.
What it is, the format, where to find it on a P60, and why the number you pay with is a different one entirely.
Pension contributions on qualifying earnings, the thresholds, opting out and the three-yearly re-enrolment duty.
Directors and limited companies #
4 guidesPaying yourself, and the traps that come with being both the owner and the employee.
Director salary: what to pay yourself
Why £12,570 is usually the answer, the two thresholds underneath it, and when a higher salary wins.
What an overdrawn account costs, the s455 charge at the new rate, and the re-borrowing traps.
What the term covers, why dividends sit outside it, and what has to be disclosed in company accounts.
The s455 charge, the nine month deadline, and the benefit in kind if no interest is charged.
Start with a calculator instead #
If you have a figure in front of you rather than a question, the tools do the arithmetic and show the working.
Labour, materials and plant handled separately, at 0%, 20% or 30%.
Enter your company profit and it finds the split that leaves you with the most.
A compliant invoice or proforma, with the HMRC requirements ticked off as you go.