What is the Construction Industry Scheme (CIS)?

CIS is a HMRC tax scheme for the construction industry. Contractors deduct money from subcontractors' payments and pass it to HMRC as advance payments towards the subcontractor's tax and National Insurance. As a subcontractor, you may be owed a refund if too much has been deducted.

How much CIS tax could I get back?

The average CIS rebate is between £1,000 and £3,000 per tax year, but it varies significantly depending on your earnings, expenses, and deductions. We'll calculate your exact entitlement as part of our free consultation.

How many years of CIS rebates can I claim?

You can claim CIS rebates for up to four previous tax years. So if you haven't claimed before, you could be owed a significant sum. Don't delay — the oldest year drops off each April.

Do I need to be VAT registered as a sole trader?

You must register for VAT if your taxable turnover exceeds £90,000 in any 12-month period. Below that threshold it's optional, though there can be advantages to registering voluntarily.

We are based at Sterling Enterprise Centre, 322 Manchester Road, Sheffield, S36 9NR. We serve clients across Sheffield and South Yorkshire, and can work remotely with clients nationwide.

Tax By Sterling | Accountants for Construction & Self-Employed

1. Who We Are

Tax by Sterling ("we", "us", "our") is an accounting firm based at Sterling Enterprise Centre, 322 Manchester Road, Sheffield, S36 9NR. We provide accounting, tax and business support services to construction companies, CIS subcontractors and self-employed individuals.

For the purposes of the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018, Tax by Sterling is the Data Controller for personal data collected through this website and in the course of providing our services.

2. What Personal Data We Collect

We may collect and process the following personal data:

Identity data: full name, date of birth (where required for tax purposes)
Contact data: email address, telephone number, postal address
Financial data: UTR number, National Insurance number, income details, tax records, bank account details (where required for service delivery)
Business data: company name, company registration number, VAT number, turnover figures
Technical data: IP address, browser type, pages visited (collected via analytics)
Enquiry data: information submitted through our website contact and service forms

3. How We Collect Your Data

Directly from you when you complete a form on our website
When you contact us by phone, email or in person
From HMRC, Companies House or other third parties in the course of providing our services
Through cookies and analytics tools on our website

4. How We Use Your Data

We use your personal data for the following purposes:

To provide accounting, tax and business support services to you
To respond to enquiries and communicate with you about our services
To prepare and submit tax returns, accounts and other filings to HMRC and other authorities on your behalf
To comply with our legal and regulatory obligations
To send you relevant information about our services (where you have consented)
To improve our website and services

5. Legal Basis for Processing

We process your personal data on the following legal bases:

Contract: processing is necessary to perform the services you have engaged us to provide
Legal obligation: we are required to process certain data to comply with our legal and regulatory obligations (e.g., anti-money laundering regulations)
Legitimate interests: to respond to enquiries and improve our services
Consent: where you have given explicit consent (e.g., for marketing communications)

6. Data Sharing

We may share your personal data with:

HMRC and other government bodies as required by law
Our professional software providers (e.g., Xero, FreeAgent) under appropriate data processing agreements
Our professional advisors (e.g., legal counsel) where necessary
Regulatory bodies (e.g., CPAA) where required

We do not sell your personal data to third parties.

7. Data Retention

We retain personal data for as long as necessary to provide our services and comply with our legal obligations. For tax and accounting records, we typically retain data for a minimum of 6 years in accordance with HMRC requirements. Enquiry data from website forms is retained for up to 12 months if no engagement follows.

8. Your Rights

Under UK GDPR, you have the following rights:

Right of access: to request a copy of the personal data we hold about you
Right to rectification: to request correction of inaccurate data
Right to erasure: to request deletion of your data (subject to legal obligations)
Right to restrict processing: to request that we limit how we use your data
Right to data portability: to receive your data in a structured, machine-readable format
Right to object: to object to processing based on legitimate interests
Right to withdraw consent: where processing is based on consent, you may withdraw it at any time

To exercise any of these rights, please contact us at [email protected]. We will respond within one month.

9. Cookies

Our website uses cookies to improve your browsing experience and to collect anonymous analytics data. We use analytics cookies to understand how visitors use our website. You can control cookie settings through your browser settings. By continuing to use our website, you consent to our use of cookies.

10. Security

We implement appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect your personal data against unauthorised access, loss, or destruction. All data is stored securely and access is restricted to authorised personnel only.

11. Complaints

If you are unhappy with how we handle your personal data, you have the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) at ico.org.uk or by calling 0303 123 1113.

12. Changes to This Policy

We may update this privacy policy from time to time. The latest version will always be available on this page with the date of last update shown at the top.

Privacy Policy