Submitting CIS

Question asked by Keith 8 years ago

I want to use CB to submit CIS returns. To do this CB is saying that I need to set them up as an agent. HMRC says that to do this the agent needs to request authorisation and a code is then sent out in the post (this is how we authorised out real life bookkeeper) Obviously I don't think CB has the facilities to do this so how the hell am I meant to use CB to submit CIS?!?

This may be a problem partly caused by the fact that HMRC keep messing about with their online systems. Changing things bit by bit rather than all at once. GRRRRR!!!

Any help would be greatly appreciated and stop me from throwing various items of stationery about the office.

Thanks,

Keith

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6 Replies

When in your tax account you go to "Manage Account" where you will find a tab for Accountant. The PAYE one (that should handle CIS I think) says you have to get your accountant to apply and the VAT one says you can't handle it online, but other guides seem to insist that this too must be handled by the agent applying.

I have to admit I've not had to do any of this but, as I say, I'll check with CB.

Best answer
8 years ago

Hi Kevin,

Thanks for the reply. I looked at this guide. The problem is step 2 "clear books needs to be set up as an agent..." I can't figure out how to do this. When I try to verify subcontractors it tells me to check the company details which are correct. This is what I see,

file

I'm assuming the system isn't connecting to HMRC as CB isn't set up as an agent.

Any insights?

Thanks again.

8 years ago

I'm going to check this with CB but I have a feeling businesses are no longer able to appoint their agent online, I think the agent has to apply to be the agent then HMRC send out an authorisation code to the business to send on to the agent (like it works for Corporation tax).

8 years ago

When in your tax account you go to "Manage Account" where you will find a tab for Accountant. The PAYE one (that should handle CIS I think) says you have to get your accountant to apply and the VAT one says you can't handle it online, but other guides seem to insist that this too must be handled by the agent applying.

I have to admit I've not had to do any of this but, as I say, I'll check with CB.

Best answer
8 years ago

Hi Paul,

This was always my understanding and is how we authorised our bookkeeper and accountant. I spoke to CB yesterday and they're going to look into it. I spoke to HMRC's online helpdesk as well and they confirm what you've said above. They were also a bit confused as to why CB would need to be registered as an agent. The other problem with this system is, as you correctly said, CIS falls into PAYE. We use a bookkeeper to run our payroll which means they are registered as our PAYE agent. If we were to register CB as our agent for CIS (PAYE) we would have to remove our bookkeeper. I'm waiting to hear back from CB but it seems that we may well not be able to use their system. Which is a shame, as generally it covers everything we need it to and works quite well. We run OSX so we are very limited in our choice of accountancy software unfortunately. The hunt continues.....

Thanks everyone for your help.

8 years ago

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