Are travel and fuel taken out of the CIS deduction?

The two lists

These come out of the payment before the deduction is worked out:

• Materials you have directly incurred
• Consumable stores
• Fuel other than fuel for travelling
• Plant hire
• The cost of manufacture or prefabrication
• The VAT you have charged

These stay inside it:

• Travelling expenses, including mileage
• Subsistence, including a night away from home
• Fuel used for travelling
• Materials the contractor bought and recharged to you

Why nobody spots it

Nothing in the system flags it. The return still files, the statement still issues, the payment still arrives. A business covering a wide patch can have 20% taken off a mileage line every month for years, and the first sign of it is usually somebody adding up the deduction column and asking why it is so close to the whole invoice.

This is correct under the rules, so there is nothing to reclaim. Travel is inside the deduction base by design. The money comes back through the tax return like any other deduction — the point is that a business budgeting on net receipts is quietly funding its own travel a year in advance.

Who bought the materials

You must have directly incurred the cost. Where the contractor buys the materials and recharges them, you have not directly incurred anything and no reduction is due. Buying materials on your own account and evidencing them properly is what moves the number — and it is a decision about how you contract, not about how you invoice.

This question is part of CIS for subcontractors, which covers the whole area.