Contractor monthly return (CIS300) in FreeAgent

This article explains how to view a CIS300 return in FreeAgent if you’re a contractor in the construction industry.

Contractors must tell HMRC each month about payments they've made to subcontractors through their monthly return. You’ll need to file a CIS300 return to HMRC by the 19th of each month, detailing payments you’ve made to subcontractors, ensuring that the right tax deductions are reported and paid.

The article covers the following topics. Please select a link to jump straight to that section:

• Accessing the CIS return
• Submission details and return summary
• Payment and deduction statement
• Marking a CIS300 return as filed
• Exporting a CIS300 return

Accessing the CIS return

Navigate to the ‘Taxes’ tab at the top of the screen and select ‘CIS’ from the drop-down menu.

Select the relevant monthly return from the list.

This will display all subcontractor contacts with CIS bills that were paid within the return period and the amount of CIS deducted. If a bill is partially paid, the amount of CIS shown will be based on the proportion of the bill that has been paid.

Please note that all relevant amounts are exclusive of VAT. This is because HMRC requires them to be shown exclusive of VAT on the payment and deduction statement. 

Total payments

The total payments for each subcontractor is the sum of all CIS items on bills that were paid to them during the reporting period, i.e. the selected tax month. FreeAgent will display these amounts to the nearest penny but when preparing your monthly returns outside of FreeAgent, for example using HMRC's CIS online service, we understand that you should enter the total payments rounded down to the nearest pound.

Cost of materials

The cost of materials for each subcontractor is the sum of ‘CIS materials’ items (that is, line items allocated to accounting category 099 in FreeAgent) on bills that were paid to them during the reporting period. These are separated out because you do not have to deduct income tax on the cost of materials under the CIS.

Liable for deduction

The amount liable for deduction for each subcontractor is the sum or proportion of the items subject to tax deductions under CIS on bills that were paid to them during the reporting period (excluding amounts recorded as ‘CIS materials’).

CIS deducted

The amount of CIS deducted for each subcontractor is the total CIS deduction on all CIS bills that were paid to them during the reporting period.

Submission details and return summary

The ‘Submission details’ section outlines the dates covered by the return and when the return is due to be filed and paid by.

The ‘Return summary’ section shows the total payments made for all subcontractors, total material costs for all subcontractors, the total amounts liable for deduction for all subcontractors and the total of Income Tax deducted under CIS for all subcontractors.

Payment and deduction statement

To view a payment and deduction statement for a contractor, select ‘View’ to the right of the relevant subcontractor.

To send a payment and deduction statement to a contractor, select ‘Send’ to the right of the relevant subcontractor.

Marking a CIS300 return as filed

Once you’ve filed a CIS300 return outside of FreeAgent, you can mark the relevant monthly return as filed in FreeAgent by selecting ‘Mark as filed’ in the top-right.

Then, select ‘Yes, mark as filed’ in the pop-up window to complete the process.

Marking a CIS return as filed will move the total amount of CIS deducted on the return from accounting category ‘811 - CIS Deductions on Expenditure’ to category ‘814 - PAYE/NI’. This will then amend the liability due on the Tax Timeline which you would usually explain as a PAYE payment to HMRC. You can change which items you see on your Tax Timeline by updating your Tax Timeline preferences.

Making changes in a return period that has been marked as filed

If a new paid bill is added for a subcontractor or an existing paid bill is edited within a reporting period that has been marked as filed, a warning notice will advise the figures on the return have changed and need to be resubmitted.

An exclamation mark will appear next to each subcontractor’s name whose figures have changed and the revised figures will appear in orange. You can see what the original figures were before the changes, in the grey text marked 'Filed' below the orange figures.

You’ll need to send an updated payment and deduction statement to the relevant subcontractors and resubmit the CIS300 return to HMRC outside of FreeAgent.

Once you've done so, select ‘I’ve resubmitted this form with HMRC’.

Select ‘Yes, I accept the changes’ in the pop-up window to complete the process. This will refresh the page and update the figures on the return.

Exporting a CIS300 return

To download a CIS300 return, select ‘Export’ in the top-right of the relevant monthly return and select ‘CIS300 (PDF)’ or ‘CIS300 (CSV)’ from the drop-down menu.

You can use the figures from the export when filing your monthly returns outside of FreeAgent, for example using HMRC's CIS online service.