How To Outsource CIS And Subcontractor Admin Properly
CIS and subbie admin is the single most penalty-prone admin task in construction. Here's how to outsource it properly.
If you run a construction or trade business that uses subcontractors, CIS and subbie admin is probably the bit of office work that scares you most — and rightly so. The penalties for a late or wrong CIS return start at £100 and escalate fast. Missing right-to-work checks can mean a £20,000 civil penalty per worker. Subbie statements that don't go out on time damage relationships with the people you depend on to deliver the work.
Where most contractors trip up. Verifying every subcontractor with HMRC before they start. Applying the right deduction rate (gross, 20% or 30%). Submitting the monthly return by the 19th. Issuing payment-and-deduction statements to every subbie inside 14 days of the tax-month end. Keeping the right-to-work file, insurance certificates and contracts on record. Reconciling CIS suffered (if you're also a subcontractor yourself) against your own tax bill.
What VA365's CIS admin support does. We run subbie onboarding end-to-end — right-to-work check, insurance verification, signed terms, CIS verification with HMRC, induction pack. We process monthly CIS returns from your payment records and submit them on time. We issue subbie statements automatically. We track gross-status reviews and flag any subbie whose status changes. We reconcile CIS suffered for your accountant.
Why outsourcing this beats DIY. CIS and subbie admin is high-volume, deadline-driven, penalty-exposed work that takes a small contractor 10–20 hours a month to do badly and 4–6 hours a month to do properly with the right process. We do it properly, on time, every month, with a clear audit trail.
Why it's better than just leaving it to your accountant. Most accountants handle the year-end and the CIS return submission, but not the day-to-day verification, statement issuing, right-to-work file and document control. That gap is where the penalties happen. We sit in the gap.
What it costs. CIS and subbie admin sits inside our Growth (£599/month) or Pro (£999/month) packages. Most contractors find the penalty exposure removed and 10+ owner hours a month recovered, comfortably paying for the service.
Book a call with Jo Hannah. Fifteen minutes. Bring your last CIS return and your current subbie list. We'll show you exactly where the exposure is and what we'd fix in the first month.