CIS deductions and refunds, allowable tools, access and vehicle costs, PPE, NIC, VAT and MTD for Income Tax explained for self-employed stone and brick restorers.
Facade restoration sits at the awkward intersection of skilled conservation craft and mainstream construction tax. You might spend a fortnight on a scaffold raking out perished pointing on a Georgian terrace, repacking joints with lime mortar matched to the original, and gently cleaning a century of soot off carved cornices, and then invoice the main contractor only to see 20% vanish before the money lands. That deduction is the Construction Industry Scheme at work, and understanding it is the difference between dreading your tax return and looking forward to the refund it usually triggers.
This guide is built around how a self-employed facade and stone restorer actually earns and spends: CIS deductions and the refund mechanism, the specific access, tooling and material costs that dominate your expenses, the National Insurance the scheme never touches, and when Making Tax Digital lands. Get the records right job by job and the annual return becomes a formality that pays you back.
As a sole trader you pay Income Tax on profit, which is your total restoration income minus allowable expenses. For 2025/26 the personal allowance covers the first GBP 12,570, then you pay 20% to GBP 50,270, 40% to GBP 125,140 and 45% above, with the personal allowance tapering away between GBP 100,000 and GBP 125,140 to create an effective 60% band. Class 4 National Insurance is 6% on profit between GBP 12,570 and GBP 50,270 and 2% above, with Class 2 NIC settled through Self Assessment.
The catch unique to construction trades is that the CIS deductions taken at source only ever count towards Income Tax, never towards your Class 2 or Class 4 NIC. So even when your CIS tax suffered exceeds your final Income Tax bill, you can still owe a little National Insurance out of the refund. Scottish restorers pay Scottish Income Tax through six bands (19%, 20%, 21%, 42%, 45% and a 48% top rate) on an S-coded number, while NIC stays UK-wide; Welsh restorers carry a C-coded tax code at rates currently matching the rest of the UK. If your code looks wrong, for example a PAYE site job is distorting it, run it through the tax code checker.
The Construction Industry Scheme governs how contractors pay subcontractors. Facade restoration, repointing, stone cleaning, masonry repair and conservation work all fall squarely inside it. When you invoice a contractor, they must deduct a percentage from the labour element and pay it to HMRC against your eventual tax bill.
A few rules matter for facade work specifically. The deduction is on labour only, so itemise the materials you supply, the scaffold or cherry-picker hire and any VAT separately on your invoice; bundle them into one line and the contractor may deduct 20% from the lot. Always collect the payment and deduction statement for every payment, because that is your evidence of tax already paid. Register as a CIS subcontractor to suffer 20% rather than 30%, and keep your details current to avoid jumping to the higher rate. Our CIS subcontractor guide covers registration and gross-payment status in detail.
CIS deducts a flat 20% of your labour with no regard for your personal allowance, your allowable expenses or the materials inside your invoices. For a facade restorer with heavy access-hire, tooling and van costs, your real taxable profit is far lower than the figure CIS taxed, so the deductions almost always overshoot your actual liability.
When you file your Self Assessment return, the CIS tax suffered across the year is totted up and set against your Income Tax and NIC. If, as is common, the deductions exceed what you owe, HMRC repays the difference. Work the numbers through the CIS tax calculator to estimate your refund before you file. The practical advice is simple: keep every payment and deduction statement, reconcile them against your bank, and file soon after 5 April so the repayment lands while the money is useful.
An expense is allowable when incurred wholly and exclusively for the business. A restorer's costs are dominated by access, tooling and materials rather than office overheads.
| Expense | What qualifies | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Hand and power tools | Pointing irons, chisels, hammers, angle grinders, needle guns, mixers, dust extractors | Larger items via the Annual Investment Allowance, full cost in the year |
| Consumables | Cutting and grinding discs, wire and bristle brushes, blades, abrasives | Fully deductible as used |
| Materials you supply | Lime mortar, NHL, sand, lime putty, stone repair mortar, biocide and masonry cleaning products | Deductible; itemise separately on CIS invoices |
| Access and lifting | Scaffold hire, access tower and MEWP/cherry-picker hire, edge protection | Excluded from CIS deduction; itemise on invoices |
| PPE and safety | Harnesses, lanyards, hard hats, dust masks and respirators, gloves, steel-toe boots, eye and ear protection | Genuinely allowable, unlike everyday clothing |
| Protective clothing | Branded overalls and work-specific protective wear | Allowable; ordinary clothes are not |
| Vehicle | Van running costs, fuel, insurance, repairs, or HMRC mileage at 45p/25p | Pick actual costs or mileage, not both |
| Insurance | Public liability, tool and plant cover, professional indemnity | Fully deductible |
| Training and cards | CSCS card, IPAF/PASMA, scaffold and conservation CPD, first aid | Updates to existing skills only |
| Levies and fees | CITB levy, accountancy, business banking, phone, home-office admin | Allowable proportion of dual-use costs |
Most facade restorers run a van loaded with tools, mortar and access kit, so vehicle and hire costs are often the second-largest deduction after the materials and tooling themselves. You can claim actual running costs (fuel, insurance, repairs, road tax and a capital allowance on the van) or the simplified mileage rate of 45p a mile for the first 10,000 business miles and 25p thereafter. You cannot mix the two for the same vehicle in a year, so once you pick the mileage method you stay with it for that van. Scaffold, tower and powered-access hire is fully deductible and, crucially, sits outside the CIS deduction, so keep those costs clearly separated on both your purchase records and your sales invoices.
Everyday clothing is never allowable even if it gets ruined on site; only genuine PPE and branded protective wear qualify. The private share of your van, phone and broadband must be excluded. Travel from home to a single long-running site can be treated as ordinary commuting rather than business travel, so be careful where a contract keeps you at one address for months. Fines, parking penalties and the cost of your own meals on a normal working day are not deductible either.
Take a self-employed stone and facade restorer working mainly as a CIS subcontractor, invoicing GBP 48,000 of labour across the year (materials and access hire are billed and reimbursed separately and net off, so we focus on the labour and the deductions against it).
CIS deductions suffered: GBP 48,000 labour at 20% = GBP 9,600 already paid to HMRC
Allowable expenses:
Taxable profit: GBP 48,000 minus GBP 10,000 = GBP 38,000
Income Tax: GBP 38,000 minus GBP 12,570 = GBP 25,430 at 20% = GBP 5,086
Class 4 NIC: GBP 25,430 at 6% = GBP 1,526
Tax and NIC due: GBP 6,612. Set against the GBP 9,600 of CIS tax already suffered, HMRC owes a refund of roughly GBP 2,988. The exact figure depends on Class 2 NIC and any other income, so run your own numbers through the sole trader tax calculator and the CIS calculator to confirm.
In facade work the tax is mostly paid before you see the money. Your job at year-end is proving how much of it HMRC should give back, and that comes down to keeping every deduction statement and every receipt.
The CIS deduction covers Income Tax only, so do not assume it has dealt with your National Insurance. Class 4 NIC at 6% on profit between GBP 12,570 and GBP 50,270 (then 2% above) and Class 2, now collected through Self Assessment, both still apply on top. In practice this trims your refund rather than creating a fresh bill, but it is why your repayment is never quite the full CIS amount minus Income Tax. If a quiet year leaves your profit below the small-profits threshold, consider paying voluntary Class 2 to protect your State Pension and benefit entitlement.
You must register for VAT once taxable turnover exceeds GBP 90,000 in any rolling 12-month period. Most restoration on existing buildings is standard-rated, though some work to listed or protected structures can attract reliefs, so check the status of each building rather than assuming. The bigger quirk for construction subcontractors is the domestic reverse charge: where you supply construction services to another VAT-registered contractor who is not the end user, you do not charge VAT on your invoice. Instead the contractor accounts for it. You still show the net value and a clear note that the reverse charge applies. This keeps the VAT out of your hands and reduces fraud, but it means your invoicing has to flag reverse-charge supplies correctly to stay compliant.
Making Tax Digital for Income Tax Self Assessment replaces the annual return with quarterly digital submissions and a year-end finalisation. The thresholds are based on gross income, not profit, and for a CIS subcontractor that means your turnover before the 20% deduction:
For a restorer this is a change of habit more than a change of tax. Instead of gathering a shoebox of deduction statements and material receipts each January, you record each invoice, CIS deduction and cost digitally as the job runs and send HMRC a summary every quarter. CIS deductions carry on exactly as now and still feed your year-end refund. The upside is that capturing costs continuously makes the refund easier to evidence and harder to under-claim. Our guide to MTD for sole traders walks through the quarterly rhythm in practice.
Not registering for CIS and suffering 30%. Registration cuts the deduction to 20% and ties up far less of your cash. Register before you start subcontracting.
Bundling materials and hire into the labour line. Put scaffold hire, plant and materials you supply on separate lines so the contractor only deducts 20% from labour, not from everything.
Binning the payment and deduction statements. Those statements are your only proof of tax already paid. Lose them and you risk losing the refund they support.
Forgetting that NIC is still due. The CIS deduction does not touch Class 2 or Class 4, so your refund will be a little less than CIS minus Income Tax.
Filing late and waiting months for the refund. File soon after 5 April so HMRC repays your overpaid CIS tax while it is still useful to your cash flow.
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