Verifying your Subcontractors

Overview of Verification

Each subcontractor should be verified with HMRC to check:

• They are registered for the CIS.

• At what rate you should deduct tax.

At the start of the new CIS in April 2007, HMRC sent each Contractor a list of subcontractors working for them, detailing their tax status and UTR. Subcontractors on this list do not require verification online. You can enter these manually in Subcontractor Details as described previously.

Any of your subcontractors not on this list, or any new subcontractors, must be verified online. To do this select the Verify Now button on the CIS tab of Subcontractor Details.

When you select the Verify Now button, the system contacts HMRC and downloads a complete list of all your subcontractors and their current details. The payroll system then checks the details of the subcontractor you are currently editing against those in the list and updates them.

Because the system always downloads a complete list, if you subsequently edit a different Subcontractor Details and these differ from those on the download, the system will tell you their details have changed and will ask you if you want to update them. This also works if their details are currently blank.