CIS

Every CIS subcontractor's standing with HMRC on one board: verified and at which rate, never verified, lapsing, or missing a UTR or NINO so verification cannot run. Saral verifies with HMRC itself and reads the answer — 0, 20 or 30 % — onto every invoice; anyone without a live verification is deducted at 30 %. The verdict, the proof and the rate come from the same engine approval and invoicing use, so what this screen says and what the money does can never differ. Saral never produces a CIS300 return or CIS statements — those are done in Xero.

You enter

Verify with HMRC — one subcontractor, the ticked ones, or everyone verifiable in the list — choosing which paying company asks.
The missing facts inline: UTR, NINO, a limited company's registration number or a partnership's UTR, and the legal status.
The one-off set-up: record that the 64-8 authorising Saral's agent has been filed, or save the group's own Government Gateway login.
An Admin's bounded override to allow a payment without verification, with a written reason; Create in Xero for a worker with no contact there.

Saral fills in

Each subcontractor's queue — Verified in Xero only, Can't verify yet, Verify with HMRC, Lapses 5 April, All clear — worst first, every person in exactly one.
HMRC's answer: the verification number, the deduction rate, the tax year it is good for, and whether details changed since HMRC answered so it needs re-verifying.
Two proofs, either enough: Saral's own HMRC record, or the worker's Xero contact being CIS-enabled in the paying organisation.
The banner: whether anything is blocked right now and what an unverified subcontractor is deducted; the Xero contact link and whether it is missing.

It produces

A verification record per subcontractor per tax year, written to their record and read by every invoice from then on.
The deduction rate on each CIS invoice — 0, 20 or 30 % — and the recalculation of an invoice already priced at the old rate.
Xero contacts for subcontractors who had none, so their invoices can be pushed.

What this page is for

HMRC's rule is that a contractor verifies a subcontractor before paying them and deducts at the higher rate for anyone it cannot match. This board is where that is done and seen: who is verified, at which rate, whose verification lapses at the tax year end, and whose record is missing the fact HMRC needs. It runs the same engine every approval, ready-to-post check and push runs, so the badge a person sees here is the refusal or the deduction they get on the invoice. It is a verification and deduction screen only — the CIS300 return and the statements to subcontractors are produced in Xero from the bills Saral pushed.

What counts as verified

Two proofs, and either is enough. Saral's own HMRC record: a verification number from a verify run, still live for the tax year and not flagged because the name, UTR or NINO changed since. Or Xero's: the worker's contact is CIS-enabled in the organisation being paid from, which covers a subcontractor verified directly in Xero before Saral held anything. A subcontractor the paying company has paid under CIS in this or the previous two tax years counts as established and needs no new verification. Verified in Xero only is still a queue, because Saral is deducting 30 % there until it has its own record.

Running a verification

Verifying needs a route to HMRC for your group: either HMRC has authorised Saral's agent for your scheme (form 64-8, which you record here once filed) or the group's own Gateway login is saved under Accounts settings, and each company's Accounts Office reference is on its record. Then Verify with HMRC takes one, the ticked, or everyone verifiable in the list, asked by the paying company you choose. The answer — matched or not, the rate, the number — is written to the record and the tax year, and an invoice already priced at the old rate is recalculated. HMRC could not match them is a data fix, not a refusal: correct the UTR, NINO or legal status inline and verify again.

Blocking, 30 % and the override

By default the gate warns and deducts: an unverified subcontractor is approved and paid, at 30 %, with the reason on every invoice. Your account can switch blocking on (the CIS policy on HR → Settings → Timesheets & Invoicing), after which an unverified subcontractor cannot be approved until verified; blocking cannot bite while the account is still catching up on its backlog. For a bounded exception an Admin can allow payment anyway for one person for a limited period, with a written reason that is audited, and revoke it from the same place. A subcontractor with no Xero contact is a different stop — their invoices cannot be pushed — and Create in Xero makes the contact from the record.

Where the settings live

The CIS policy — blocking on or off, and the catch-up phase that keeps blocking from biting while a backlog is verified — is on HR → Settings → Timesheets & Invoicing. The HMRC route (agent authorisation or the group's own credentials) is under Accounts settings → HMRC, and each company's Accounts Office reference on its company record. The worker's own UTR, NINO, legal status and company number are on their record and editable here. The Xero contact link is on HR → Settings → Xero Coding. The deduction itself is applied on Invoices – CIS; the return and the statements are Xero's.

Next screen: /hr/rate-history

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