How to check a subcontractor's CIS status
Verify them with HMRC, check their company for red flags, and keep a dated record you can show HMRC.
Check the company
Type its company number. We read the public register and look for the signs HMRC's guidance points to.
See what is worth a closer look
Very new, filings overdue, directors changing, a business that is not construction. Each with the question to ask.
Keep a dated record
Save the result with your CIS records. The detailed report adds the full check and a written checking process for your office.
First, verify them with HMRC
A subcontractor's CIS status (whether they are registered, and whether you pay them gross or deduct tax) comes only from HMRC. Verify each new subcontractor with HMRC before you first pay them, through HMRC's online service or your CIS software, and keep the verification reference. SubSure cannot see CIS status. (What you must do as a CIS contractor: verify subcontractors.)
Before you check the company
You need the company number of the subcontractor's limited company. It is on their invoices and letters, or on the Companies House register. Sole traders and partnerships are not companies: verify them with HMRC as you would anyone.
1. Check the company
Type the number on the company check. We read the Companies House public register at that moment. You do not sign up, and we keep nothing.
2. See what is worth a closer look
The result lists what looks normal and what is worth asking about, each with the question to put to the company. A flag is never a verdict. Plenty of genuine firms are new or use a shared address.
3. Keep a dated record
Save the result with your CIS records, with the date and what the company told you. Records are how you show HMRC you made reasonable checks. Keep them at least 3 years after the tax year ends (What you must do as a CIS contractor: record keeping).
And check your own process
The 15 question self-check shows where your own checking process is weakest, with what each gap could cost.