CISR12200 - The Scheme: contractors: production of records

SI2005/2045 reg 51, requires a contractor to produce certain records for inspection when called upon to do so by an authorised officer of the Board. The records involved include those relating to the following

• payments made to subcontractors (or their nominees) in those years or income tax periods the officer specifies
• the cost of materials included in the payments
• the associated CIS deductions where these were applicable.

The officer may inspect these records or specify production of particular records. This provision allows compliance and investigating officers to examine a contractor’s records in the course of a review or an investigation.

Keeping records

From time to time HMRC officers will want to examine the records of contractors in the same way as examinations of employers’ PAYE records are carried out. Where these records are in paper form, they may be preserved by optical imaging systems, provided that what is retained is a complete and unaltered image of the underlying paper document. Records must be kept for at least three years after the end of the tax year to which they relate and be made available on request. Contractors must provide:

• viewing facilities
• full-scale copies of the records if required.