Related answers
Erecting, altering and dismantling scaffolding is expressly a construction operation. The hire of the equipment itself is a different supply, and for CIS purposes plant hire costs are among the items that come out of the deduction base — so where your invoice properly identifies a hire element, that element reduces the payment subject to deduction. So the same invoice can have an erection element inside the deduction base and a hire element outside it, which is only possible if the two are shown separately.
Erecting, altering and dismantling scaffolding is a construction operation. Hiring out the equipment is a different supply. Most scaffolding jobs contain both, which is why the same invoice can have an element inside the scheme and an element that reduces the payment the deduction is charged on.
That only works if the invoice says so. A single line reading "scaffolding to front elevation, £4,000" gives the contractor nothing to work with, and the safe thing for them to do is deduct on the lot.
The split has to reflect what actually happened. Inflating the hire element to shrink the deduction base is not a presentational choice, and the contractor carries a duty to be satisfied the figures are reasonable.
Scaffolding on a new dwelling is the well-known trap. Where the supply is of erected scaffolding on a zero-rated new build, the hire element does not automatically follow the zero rate — the builders' block and the treatment of hire mean parts of the supply can stay standard-rated even when the construction itself is zero-rated. Get the CIS split and the VAT liability answered separately, on the same invoice.
This question is part of Accountants for scaffolders, which covers the whole area.
Send us three months of payment and deduction statements. We will tell you what is wrong, what it is costing, and whether gross payment status would fix it.