CISR61270 - Monthly return: pursue late monthly return

The introduction of a monthly return completed by a contractor, in place of CIS vouchers, is central to the new Scheme.

The monthly return should detail all the payments made to a subcontractor in a given tax month. The reporting period runs from the 6th of the month through to the 5th of the following month. For example, Month 1 will run from 6th April to 5th May.

The monthly returns process is as follows:

  • 5th of the month. This is the end of the reporting period. The core CISR system will populate the contractor return (CIS300) with details of all subcontractors who were reported as having been paid by the contractor in the returns for the previous three months. Subcontractors verified in the last three months will also be included.
  • 9th of the month. CIS300 forms must have been issued to all live contractor records registered on the CISR system. The type of return to be issued will depend on the preferred method stated by the contractor at the time of registration.
  • 19th of the month. The filing date. All CIS returns for the given month should be received by this date.

A contractors’ monthly CIS300 return will be captured by either Rapid Data Capture (RDC), on line over the internet, or manually by HMRC staff.

Definition of ‘Late monthly return’

Any monthly return CIS300 received after the 19th day of a given month will be treated as being ‘late’.

Pursuit of late monthly returns

Processing and Compliance offices will not get involved in the pursuit of late monthly returns. This work will be handled by Debt Management and Banking (DMB) on the Integrated Debt Management System (IDMS).

The CIS system will inform SAFE when it identifies that a return is late and has not been received by the ‘late return pursuit date’. The time trigger for this internal input action is currently set to 10 days after the return filing date. IDMS will then store this information and use it to prioritise DMB work items.

DMB will then pursue the outstanding returns.

If an outstanding return is subsequently logged and captured, the CIS system will automatically notify DMB that the return is no longer outstanding.