Verifying Subcontractors when first creating a CIS company

When you first set up your CIS Company, the simplest way to verify all your subcontractors and ensure they have not changed is to complete the following:

  1. From the ‘Employee’ menu, choose ‘Select Employee’, and select the first subcontractor you want to verify.

  2. Select the CIS tab card and choose Verify Now.

    Confirmation message

  3. Select ‘Yes’ if you are ready to continue and the system will attempt to connect to the Gateway and verify the subcontractor.

    If the subcontractor is found on HMRC’s list, their HMRC Status, Verification No and Last Verified details will be updated for you. You will be told that the Subcontractor has been updated successfully.

    If the subcontractor cannot be found by HRMC, their HMRC Status will be set to Unmatched and Last Verified will be left blank. HMRC will still provide a Verification No though.

  4. Select ‘Save’ on the current Subcontractor Details and choose the next subcontractor by using the arrow icons on the top menu:

Using the arrows, browse through each subcontractor and:

  • If their tax details on the downloaded list are different to those you have entered, or left blank, the system will tell you and ask if you want to update them.

  • If you do not receive a message saying details have changed, it could be because they are not on the downloaded list and therefore not registered with HMRC. We recommend you select Verify Now on those subcontractors to contact HMRC again to ensure you receive a verification number.

Use the above method when first setting up your CIS Company. In future, you will only need to verify new subcontractors that you have added to the system. HMRC will always inform you by letter of any changes to your existing subcontractors.

Remember, when you select Verify Now, the system always downloads a complete list of your subcontractors from HMRC. This means that when you verify new subcontractors and then subsequently edit an existing subcontractor whose HMRC tax status has changed, Earnie will ask if you want to update those details.