If you've searched “CIS subcontractor reddit”, you've hit the same threads — lads trying to work out their deductions, the right rate, and how to get the overpaid tax back at year-end. Here's the straight version.
Try Amy free for 14 days →CIS trips up almost every new subcontractor. The contractor deducts 20% (or 30% if you’re not verified, 0% if you have gross status) from your labour before they pay you, sends it to HMRC, and you reconcile it at year-end — usually getting a chunk back because the deductions overshoot once your expenses and personal allowance are in.
The recurring pain in the threads: keeping track of every payment-and-deduction statement, and having clean numbers ready so the rebate isn’t a guessing game. Lose the statements and you’re leaving money with HMRC.
20% if you’re CIS-registered and verified, 30% if you’re not verified, or 0% if you hold gross payment status. If you’re being hit with 30%, getting registered and verified is the first win — it’s your money sitting with HMRC until year-end.
You need every payment and deduction recorded — gross, deduction, net, tax month, per contractor. With TradesOffice you just text Amy “CIS invoice Barratt Homes £3,500 gross” and she creates the invoice, applies the right deduction rate, and logs gross/deduction/net automatically. No spreadsheet to keep.
It keeps your CIS deductions and your expenses in one clean record, so when your accountant does the return the deductions-suffered figure is already there — that’s what reduces your bill or triggers the refund. Nothing to dig out in April.
That’s the gap. TradesOffice runs in WhatsApp — save one contact, text like a mate. Invoices, expenses, mileage and CIS all captured as you work, MTD-categorised for your accountant. No app to download, no new number. £19.99/month, 14-day free trial, no card.
No — it feeds them. You get clean, categorised records and a quarterly pack; they file. It’s the capture layer that stops the year-end shoebox.
Text Amy the job, she applies the right deduction and logs it — so your rebate isn't a year-end guessing game. Free for 14 days, no card.
Try Amy free →