CISR66680 - Monthly return: errors on returns: Amending the Unique Taxpayer reference for a subcontractor on submitted CIS monthly returns

ISR66000 - Information contents

There may be occasions when you need to amend a Unique Taxpayer reference (UTR) for a subcontractor shown on a CIS Monthly Return (CIS300). You should only ever make this type of change where the contractor or their authorised agent has asked you to do so. You must never make a change of this nature at the request of a subcontractor alone.

This action may be necessary in the following circumstances;

  • a subcontractor has incorporated his business after a contract commenced, and informed his contractor immediately and, despite the contractor paying the new limited company, in error they still showed the sole trader or partnership UTR on the returns
  • a sole trader or partner subcontractor has been made bankrupt and has both pre and post bankruptcy UTRs and the contractor has recorded post bankruptcy payments and deductions under the pre-bankruptcy UTR in error
  • where, for some reason, a sole trader or partner subcontractor has been allocated more than one UTR in error and the contractor has recorded payments and deductions using the wrong UTR in error.

When considering cases where a sole trader or partnership has incorporated, you will firstly need to consider who is the legal entity that has been paid. CISR77610 has more guidance about this.

Where you decide that it is correct to amend the UTR on the CIS Monthly returns, you should take action as follows;

  • (This content has been withheld because of exemptions in the Freedom of Information Act 2000)

(This content has been withheld because of exemptions in the Freedom of Information Act 2000)

When using function ‘Correct error on return’ to amend a UTR for a subcontractor, do not simply overwrite the old UTR on the return with the correct UTR. All that will do is to send the payment and deduction details across to the new UTR on CIS. It will not reduce the payment and deduction details on the old UTR.

To make the necessary amendment, you must use the function ‘Correct error on return’ and;

  • reduce the payment and deduction details held under the old (incorrect) UTR to nil

then

  • ‘add’ a new subcontractor showing the new (correct) UTR, adding the subcontractor’s details and payment and deductions previously shown under the old (incorrect UTR).

Finally,

  • complete the ‘Correct error on return’ function as normal, which will then create a new version of that month’s CIS monthly return and will ‘supersede’ the old version
  • repeat this process for each monthly return that needs amendment for the correct UTR.

Having taken this action, this will then assist the comparison made between what a subcontractor has claimed on their Self-Assessment return and what the CIS system shows and, for limited companies, any comparison between the amount of CIS deductions claimed on their annual return form P35 (for non RTI years) or Employment Payment Summary (EPS) returns (for RTI years) and what the CIS system shows (see PAYE53012 and PAYE53013).