Hi everyone,
Hope you’re all well! It’s almost settlement time for me, which has come up far faster than expected! My BRP expires 10th November, so the aim is to apply in October. I will be gone most of September to visit family in the US, so I’m trying to get some things started now instead of putting it all off until my return.
Right now I have two questions that I hope someone might be able to help with.
Question one:We will be relying on my husband’s income to meet the financial requirement. Right after my FLR approval, he began working under the construction industry scheme. He is given work through an agency, and a payroll company (separate to the agency) is in charge of his payslips and depositing his pay each week.
As I understand from good ol’ Appendix FM 1.7, CIS income can fall under the cat A or B requirements as long as we can provide the right documentation. If we take this route, it’ll be cat B due to the variable income, so 12 months of bank statements and payslips, a letter from the agency confirming husband works for them, and a letter from the payroll company confirming the payslips (they only issue them digitally so we’ll be printing them all off). I’m assuming some sort of a contract with the agency and some sort of proof of his CIS registration will also be helpful.
My worry, however, is the payslips themselves and how taxes are shown as it's not PAYE. Basically, there’s no separate line for what is contributed to tax and what is contributed to national insurance. It’s just 20% withheld, and it seems to be the standard for how these subcontractors get paid (under the Deduction Rate heading:
https://www.gov.uk/what-you-must-do-as-a-cis-subcontractor/get-paid#:~:text=Deduction%20rates,they%20cannot%20verify%20you). Of course, he does a self-assessment tax return each year, and that shows a further breakdown of how much of that 20% goes to tax, how much goes to national insurance, and how much is refunded to him.
Considering that that’s the standard for how CIS subcontractors are paid, and the home office are happy for CIS to fall under cat A or B, then surely this is fine?
Question two: In regards to his tax returns, last year’s return had to be amended. Frustratingly, the accountancy firm he uses made an error in calculation, resulting in £1800 overpayment from HMRC. We didn’t realise it until this year when comparing the returns and refunds. Even more frustratingly, HMRC took months doing a further review, and even they didn’t pick up on the error!
The accountant amended the return in April, and nothing else has been heard since. Husband has now chased up the accountant to confirm all is well because he's not had correspondence from HMRC asking for the money owed back.
So, will this amendment cause issues with my application? I’m assuming it would be best to confirm the amended return has been accepted by HMRC and the balance is paid. I just worry it’ll look as if we’ve tried to swindle HMRC out of a bigger refund than really owed, even though we’ve picked up the error and had the accountant make the amendment needed.
Any help is appreciated
