CIS, the VAT reverse charge, gross payment status, Making Tax Digital and payroll for Leeds trade businesses. We only act for trades, and we work with you remotely.
The short version. Leeds is in England, so the Building Safety Levy applies here from 1 October 2026, though developments of fewer than 10 units are exempt, and the dutyholder and competence duties in SI 2023/911 apply to all building work. Everything on the tax side is UK-wide: CIS at 20% and 30% with the return due by the 19th and payment by the 22nd, the VAT domestic reverse charge, VAT registration at £90,000, Making Tax Digital, employer NIC at 15% above £5,000, and the £1,000,000 annual investment allowance. Building control for your work here sits with Leeds City Council.
Making Tax Digital for Income Tax is the change most likely to catch a Leeds trade business by surprise, because the test is on gross turnover before expenses rather than on profit. HMRC's own wording is that qualifying income is your total income from self-employment and property, the amount before expenses — also known as turnover, based on the tax return you submitted in the previous tax year.
Three thresholds, three dates, and a different return decides each. Over £50,000 on your 2024-25 return means you have been mandated since 6 April 2026. Over £30,000 on your 2025-26 return brings you in from 6 April 2027. Over £20,000 on your 2026-27 return, from 6 April 2028. The awkward part is the lag: the return that puts you in scope was filed long before the obligation starts.
For a trade business the arithmetic is unforgiving. A plumber turning over £71,000 with £24,000 of materials, £9,000 of subcontract labour and £7,500 of running costs makes a £30,500 profit — and is tested on £71,000. He thinks of himself as earning thirty thousand and has been inside MTD since April 2026. At £20,000 from April 2028, essentially every full-time self-employed tradesperson is in, including part-time and second-income trades.
What it involves: digital records, and a cumulative update four times a year from compatible software, due 7 August, 7 November, 7 February and 7 May. Each update covers the year to date rather than just the quarter. There are no penalties for missed quarterly update deadlines in 2026-27, so year one is a soft landing on submissions — but late payment charges rose to 3 percentage points at 15 days, 3 points at 30 days and 10 points a year from day 31. File and pay, in that order of leniency.
Two exclusions that matter here. Partnerships are not yet in scope at all. And a director-shareholder taking salary and dividends from a limited company has no qualifying income from it, because employment income and dividends are both excluded from the test.
The same work whichever trade you are in, because the problems are the scheme's rather than the trade's. We run the monthly CIS return and verification cycle, apply for and protect gross payment status, get the reverse charge right on your invoices and get end user notifications on file, put your records on software that satisfies Making Tax Digital, run payroll with the CIS offset claimed monthly through the employer payment summary, and prepare the accounts and tax return.
Two things we do that a general accountant usually does not. We reconcile your CIS suffered to the payment and deduction statements every month rather than once a year, which is where under-claimed materials and missing statements turn up — see the records guide. And we treat your VAT compliance as part of your CIS position, because since 6 April 2024 it literally is: VAT joined CIS, PAYE, income tax and corporation tax in the gross payment status compliance test.
We write for each trade separately, because the scope questions differ. An electrician is inside CIS on power, lighting and fire protection and outside it on burglar alarms and CCTV. A steel fabricator is outside the scheme on manufacture and delivery to site and inside it on erection. A scaffolder is inside CIS, and separately hired scaffolding is standard rated for VAT even on a zero-rated new build. There are pages for plumbers, roofers, groundworkers, joiners, bricklayers, plasterers and every other trade we act for.
Three free calculators, no email required: the CIS deduction calculator shows what materials do to a deduction, the gross payment status checker tests you against all three statutory tests, and the reverse charge checker works through the six conditions on a specific job.
Turnover, and for a trade business that is the whole difficulty. HMRC defines qualifying income as your total income from self-employment and property before expenses — the amount otherwise known as turnover — taken from the Self Assessment return you submitted in the previous tax year. Materials, subcontract labour, fuel and plant hire are not deducted before the test. So a tradesperson turning over £71,000 and making £30,500 of profit is tested on £71,000 and was mandated from 6 April 2026. Property income is added to self-employment turnover across all sources, so a small rental can tip a borderline case over.
In 2026-27, nothing — there are no penalties for missed quarterly update deadlines in the first year. After that, late submission works on points: one point per missed quarterly update or return deadline, with a penalty charged at a four-point threshold. Late payment is where the regime got tougher: the charges rose from 2 to 3 percentage points at 15 days, from 2 to 3 points at 30 days, and from 4 to 10 percentage points a year from day 31. In your first year in the regime you get 30 days from the due date to pay or contact HMRC before penalties start, and 15 days thereafter.
Less than most trades expect, and not the things they expect. Leeds is in England, and the Construction Industry Scheme is UK-wide: 20% standard rate, 30% higher rate, the monthly return due by the 19th and the money by the 22nd. The VAT domestic reverse charge, the £90,000 registration threshold, Making Tax Digital, National Insurance, corporation tax and the £1,000,000 annual investment allowance are identical too. What changes is building safety — the Building Safety Levy applies here from 1 October 2026, though developments of fewer than 10 units are exempt, and the dutyholder and competence duties in SI 2023/911 apply to all building work — and the income tax on your profit, which is the UK rates — 20%, 40% and 45%, with the higher rate starting at £50,270 on a full personal allowance.
No. We act for trade businesses in Leeds and across the UK remotely — phone, WhatsApp, video and email, with records and approvals handled online. That is deliberate rather than a limitation, because what decides a trade's tax position is not local knowledge but knowing the scheme: whether the work is a construction operation within CIS, whether the payment is CIS-reportable, whether your customer has notified end user status in writing, whether the materials figure on your invoice will stand up, and whether you should have gross payment status. None of that is answered by being twenty minutes down the road. What being in England does change is building safety and, on income tax, uk bands: 20% / 40% / 45% — and we take that into account without needing an office here. The calculators on this site are free and need no conversation at all.
A free call about your CIS position, your VAT treatment and what is actually locked up. If we cannot save you anything, we will say so.
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