Construction Accountants Who Understand Your Business

It depends on your income level, growth plans and appetite for admin. Sole trader status with CIS registration is simplest for subcontractors earning under roughly £30,000-£40,000 a year, since deductions are made at source and you reclaim any overpayment through self-assessment. A limited company becomes more tax-efficient once profits consistently exceed that range, because corporation tax rates and dividend planning can reduce your overall liability compared to income tax on the same profit. We review your contract volume, subcontractor relationships and growth trajectory before recommending a structure, rather than defaulting to whichever is easiest to set up.

The quickest win for most subcontractors is applying for gross payment status once you meet HMRC’s turnover and compliance criteria, which stops the 20% deduction at source entirely and improves cash flow immediately. Beyond that, claiming every allowable expense (tools, travel, PPE, subsistence, and use-of-home costs) reduces your taxable profit before tax is even calculated. For limited companies, timing capital purchases, claiming plant and machinery allowances, and structuring director remuneration between salary and dividends also produces meaningful savings year over year.

Yes, this is one of the most common setups in the trade, and it requires an accountant comfortable running both sides of the CIS system simultaneously. As a contractor, you’ll need monthly CIS returns and subcontractor verification; as a subcontractor on other jobs, you’ll have deductions taken from your own invoices that need reconciling and claiming back. We handle both streams together so nothing gets double-counted or missed at year end, and your overall tax position reflects the full picture rather than two disconnected filings.

Yes. We set up your invoicing templates so reverse charge supplies are flagged correctly, confirm whether your customer qualifies as an “end user” or “intermediary supplier” (which changes whether the charge applies), and make sure your VAT returns reflect the reverse charge accurately rather than accidentally charging or reclaiming VAT incorrectly. This is one of the most error-prone areas in construction accounting, and getting it wrong triggers HMRC penalties quickly, so it’s built into our standard onboarding process for every contractor client.

We work with businesses of every size, from a single subcontractor operating under their own name to multi-site contractors managing dozens of subcontractors. Our fixed-fee model is scaled to your turnover and complexity rather than gatekept by a minimum size, and many of our longest-standing clients started as sole traders and grew into limited companies with us managing that transition.

Our core services cover CIS registration and repayment claims, VAT domestic reverse charge compliance, contract-level job costing, retention tracking and recovery, capital allowances on plant and equipment, payroll and CITB levy returns, and corporate or group structuring for developers and larger contractors. Beyond compliance, we also provide cash flow forecasting built around retention and payment delay, and connect clients with invoice finance, contractor insurance and bonding specialists when needed.

Switching accountants does not need to disrupt live contracts. Once you sign up, we contact your current accountant directly to obtain your CIS records, VAT history and working papers, and rebuild your accounts on cloud software organised by contract and subcontractor. Most clients are fully onboarded within a week, and your CIS filings and VAT returns continue on schedule throughout the transition with no gaps in compliance.

A general accountant deals with CIS, the VAT reverse charge and retention accounting only occasionally, across a handful of clients, which means these niche rules are rarely their strongest area. A construction specialist handles these mechanics daily, tracks legislation changes as they happen (such as recent adjustments to CIS treatment for public body payments), and understands how contracts, retentions and staged payments actually flow through your accounts. That difference typically shows up directly in faster repayment claims, fewer VAT errors, and tax planning that reflects how construction businesses are genuinely paid.