Expenses that you can claim for under CIS

What expenses are you allowed to claim under the Construction Industry Scheme?

When you are registered for CIS you are able to claim for a variety of expenses, which will reduce your taxable income and subsequently how much tax you have to pay, and potentially increase your tax rebate if you are entitled to one.

Some of the types of expenses you can claim for are as follows:

• Motor expenses – there are two different approaches to claiming for car or van expenses

1. You can claim 45p per mile up to 10,000 miles and 25p thereafter
2. If you use your vehicle for part personal use, you can pro-rate the expenses you incur relating to the running of your business. For example, if you use your car for 50% business, then you can claim 50% of its running costs

• Tools and safety equipment you bought yourself to enable you to do your job
• Travel and subsistence

1. If your contract is under two years you can claim for meals whilst working, as well as travel to and from locations

• Use of home as office

1. If you perform work from home and use your home as office you can claim these as an expense of the business.  Like motor expenses, these will need to be pro-rated based on the amount of time you spend working from your home office
2. HMRC has a simplified system called the home office allowance which assigns a flat weekly rate (starting at around £10 per week) depending on how much time you spend working at home

• Mobile phone bill – again this will need to be pro-rated depending on what proportion is for business and personal
• Accountant bills
• Builders Liability Insurance
  

If your expenses are under £1,000 then it’s probably not worth all the hassle of keeping records – you can claim the £1,000 tax free allowance instead