The first day
A return that misses the 19th costs £100, from the day after. A nil return is still a return: if you paid no subcontractors, send one, unless you have told HMRC you have stopped using them for now.
Free CIS penalty calculator
What does a late CIS300 cost?
Your monthly CIS return is due by the 19th after each tax month ends - a nil return too - and the penalties start the day after. Choose the tax month, when it reached HMRC, and the deductions on it, and see the penalty so far and when the next one starts.
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HMRC's scale
It starts at £100, and it stacks.
Two, six and twelve months
£200 more once it is two months late. At six months the higher of £300 or 5% of the CIS deductions on it, and the same again at twelve months.
Every return on its own
The penalties are per return, so two late months are two sets. Later than twelve months, HMRC may charge an extra penalty of up to £3,000 or 100% of the deductions on the return, whichever is higher. You can appeal within 30 days of the date on the penalty notice.
HMRC's own scale: File your monthly returns. Worked out with the same rule as the Stoneledger software.
What Stoneledger does
Every tax month's return, in view before it is late.
- Every tax month, with its due date, nil returns included.
- Prepared kept apart from sent, because only a return that has reached HMRC stops a penalty.
- The penalty building if one is late, on HMRC's scale.
Every CIS300 in view, before it is late.
Each tax month's return built from what you paid, with its due date and what happens if it slips.