The go-live date for the new CIS tax scheme on 6th April (Good Friday) is rapidly approaching. While some general industry concerns remain, almost 90% of COINS clients who pay UK subcontractors through COINS are already taking steps to cope with the changes and are ahead of many others in the industry, although there is no room for complacency.

‘COINS clients have been quick on the uptake to ensure, as far as possible, that they are fully trained,’ acknowledged Jim Etherton, COINS Senior Product Manager. Nearly 400 delegates from over 100 clients are so far attending the series of 18 client training seminars offered by COINS around the country from January through to March.

When asked about the value of the COINS CIS seminar John Grant, Martin Grant Homes stated, ‘Combining presentations from HMRC and COINS ensured I was able to learn the requirements of the new scheme and how to operate it using COINS in a single day, which along with the documentation provided, has been of enormous value.’

Other comments from delegates:

‘Thanks for the CIS course on 23 January. It was very useful. I feel very confident that COINS will perform perfectly with the CIS scheme. Thanks for all your efforts and those of everybody else that has been involved in developing this part of COINS.’
Angela Root, Kier Group

‘Very well organised and good to see COINS are very well placed for 6th April 2007.’
Nick Bean, May Gurney

With full support of clients where appropriate, COINS over the past two years has been making the necessary software amendments, as well as showing market leadership by being at the forefront of discussions with HMRC and with BASDA (the Business Application Software Developers Association). This has helped ensure that matters of wider concern within CIS are addressed and has included being instrumental in specifying the requirements for HMRC test data
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Jim Etherton assured that ‘while the test facilities which HMRC delivered fell well short of the requested full end-toend testing, it is clear that by working closely with BASDA and HMRC some significant problems with the new scheme have been prevented by identifying issues in the HMRC software in time for them to be fixed before go-live’.

During a two week joint testing period at the end of November last year, uniquely for the industry, 11 staff representing six major clients spent a day with COINS in Slough testing the software with the opportunity to send test verification and month-end submissions to HMRC. Our thanks to the following for their contribution: Robert Dickenson and Alistair Oxby, Persimmon; Anthony Balance and Angela Root, Kier Group; Carla Gamble, Morgan Est; Dave Brealey, Lovell; Mark Bennett and Sue Douglas, AMEC; Griffin Turton, Geoffrey Osborne and two representatives, Barratt.

However, the real test of the new electronic monthly reporting for CIS will come in the period from 6th April to 19th May, when the first returns are due. To help make certain, Kier Group and Morgan Est, will receive fast-track registration for electronic CIS services to prove live connectivity within the first few days of the new scheme and COINS are gearing up to ensure that they will be able to support all UK clients, with extra staff allocated to support.

Industry concerns remain surrounding the readiness of the Government Gateway and HMRC systems to cope with demand for on-line CIS services and also the risk of errors causing rejected submissions. In discussions with HMRC and the Cabinet Office, COINS have been given assurances that usage forecasts have been appropriately considered and provided for. Insofar as possible, COINS have also ensured that the software has been designed to minimise errors by automating tax calculations and validating input rigorously. This should mean that most errors that could result in rejected submissions can be detected within COINS and corrected before ever being submitted to HMRC.

COINS will continue to work with HMRC and clients as closely as possible on testing right up to and through the initial go-live period. Recognising that software is only part of that solution, first class training, consultancy, documentation and support, all of which are of vital importance to the provision of a complete CIS solution, will continue to be offered.