Plain-English guides to the money side of a trade business — CIS deductions and gross payment status, the VAT reverse charge, what you can claim on a van and your tools, Making Tax Digital, taking on your first employee, and getting your cash out from under HMRC.
Who is a contractor, who is a subcontractor, why most trades are both at once, which operations are in scope, how materials cut the deduction, and every deadline.
Read the guideThe three statutory tests, the multiple-turnover calculation for partnerships and companies, what changed in April 2024 and April 2026, and what losing it now costs.
Read the guideThe six conditions that must all hold, why the default is the reverse charge, how end user notification works, the wording HMRC accepts, and the 5% disregard.
Read the guideThe £1m annual investment allowance, full expensing, the new 40% first-year allowance, van versus car on three separate tests, and the double-cab pick-up dates exactly.
Read the guideThe three thresholds and the returns that decide them, why the test is turnover rather than profit, what a quarterly update contains, the four dates, and the penalties.
Read the guideCIS 340 on why the scheme decides nothing about employment status, the indicators, the size of the exposure, and how off-payroll and umbrella rules interact with CIS.
Read the guideWhat makes a new dwelling zero-rated, the three routes to 5%, the extension trap, the builders' block on fitted furniture and scaffolding, and the 2027 cliff edge.
Read the guideWhat each structure actually costs this year, the dividend rate rise, associated companies, and the CIS recovery difference that decides it for many subcontractors.
Read the guideOne £10,000 invoice, traced through VAT and CIS, showing where the money went; then the seven changes that put it back, in the order they are worth doing.
Read the guideEmployer NIC at 15% from a £5,000 threshold, the Employment Allowance and who cannot claim it, the 2026 wage rates, and the Employment Rights Act dates that add cost.
Read the guideWho pays the levy from October 2026, the exemptions that protect small sites, the competence duties that already apply to all building work, and CDM notification.
Read the guideThe statutory retention periods, the seven things a payment and deduction statement must contain, how to reconcile CIS suffered to a balance sheet figure, and materials evidence.
Read the guide"Twenty per cent keeps coming off and I do not know why." Start with the CIS guide, which covers both sides of the same contract, then why you are always short of cash for the fixes in the order they are worth doing.
"I want to stop the deduction." Gross payment status — the three tests, why the £30,000 turnover bar is lower than you think, and what losing it costs since April 2026.
"I do not know whether to put VAT on this invoice." Two guides, in this order: 20%, 5% or zero decides the rate, and only then does the reverse charge question arise — because it only catches standard and reduced-rated work.
"Can I claim the van, the pick-up and the tools?" Vans, tools and plant, including the two double-cab pick-up transitional dates that do not match each other.
"HMRC says I have to file quarterly now." Making Tax Digital — which threshold catches you, and why the test is turnover rather than profit.
"Should I go limited?" Limited company or sole trader on 2026/27 numbers, after the dividend rise. The CIS section near the end is the part general advice leaves out.
"I want to take somebody on." Your first employee for what it costs, and employment status for the risk in the arrangement you may already have.
"Somebody has asked me for a competence declaration." The Building Safety Levy and dutyholder duties — including which of those obligations is real and which we could not verify.
"My paperwork is a carrier bag." Records and statements, which is the least interesting guide here and the one that most often finds money.
The guides cover the patterns; your jobs are specific. One call usually answers more than an afternoon of reading.
One short email: what has changed in CIS and construction VAT, the dates coming up, and one number worth checking on your own invoices. No spam, unsubscribe any time.