Built for CPCS & CSCS plant operators

CIS deductions, mileage, accommodation — all in one app

Telehandler, 360-excavator, dumper, crane and MEWP operators — track day-rate income, CIS deducted at source, miles between sites and overnight accommodation, ready for your refund.

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Free on iOS & Android CIS deductions tracked Refund-ready exports

A day rate that lands 20% short

Most self-employed plant operators are registered with HMRC for CIS, which means every contractor must deduct 20% from your payments and pass it to HMRC. On a £42,000 year that's £8,400 already paid in tax — usually more than the tax you actually owe once expenses are claimed. The difference comes back to your bank as a refund, but only if you keep the records.

Built for plant operators

What PocketReceipt tracks for CPCS card holders

Day-rate income

Log every CIS payment: contractor name, gross day rate, 20% deduction, net received. See your running CIS-paid balance against your tax forecast.

Mileage between sites

GPS or manual entry per trip. Simplified 45p / 25p auto-calculated. Track per vehicle — car, van or motorcycle.

Overnight accommodation

Hotel and B&B receipts on away-from-home jobs. Subsistence (food) on the same trips. Tagged per job for clean exports.

CPCS & CSCS card renewals

Renewal theory tests, practical tests, training fees for new plant categories. All allowable as refresher / extension training.

PPE and small kit

Hi-vis Class 3, steel-toe boots, hard hat, gloves, ear defenders. Scan the receipt, it's categorised automatically.

HMRC-aligned export

SA103F box mapping, including Box 20 mileage, Box 30 PPE/training, and Box 81 CIS deductions taken — direct to your accountant or your own Self Assessment.

A typical week

A plant operator's week, tracked

Monday — drive 90 miles to site, log mileage
Tuesday — pick up CPCS Renewal Theory Test booking, scan receipt
Wednesday — overnight on a remote site, hotel + dinner receipts captured
Thursday — replacement hi-vis Class 3 and ear defenders, scan receipt
Friday — payslip arrives with CIS Payment and Deduction Statement, scan it
Sunday — export the week to your accountant

What you can claim

Allowable expenses for self-employed plant operators

HMRC lets you deduct any cost that is wholly and exclusively for your plant-operating work. The table below maps a typical CPCS-card sole-trader operator's spend — day-rate work on construction sites — to the boxes on SA103F. The plant itself isn't yours (the site supplies it), so depreciation and capital allowances on machinery don't apply; your expenses are mileage, accommodation, PPE, training and admin.

Expense	Claim?	SA103F box	Notes
Mileage to temporary sites (simplified)	Yes	Box 20 — Car, van and travel expenses	45p first 10,000 business miles, 25p after. Home → site is allowable while the site is a temporary workplace.
Vehicle running costs — fuel, MOT, servicing, repairs (actual-cost method)	Yes	Box 20	Only if you are not using simplified mileage on the same vehicle.
Travel from home to a single site you've worked at for more than 24 months	No	—	HMRC's 24-month rule (EIM32080) treats it as a regular workplace; travel becomes ordinary commuting.
Overnight accommodation (hotel, B&B, lodgings) on away-from-home sites	Yes	Box 20	Allowable where the site is a temporary workplace and you stay overnight away from your normal home base.
Subsistence (food, drink) on overnight trips	Yes	Box 20	Allowable only on the same overnight trips. A daily lunch on a site close to home is not.
PPE — Class 3 hi-vis, safety boots, hard hat, gloves, ear defenders, knee pads	Yes	Box 30 — Other business expenses	Protective and specialist work equipment only. Ordinary clothing is never allowable.
CPCS card renewal — theory test, practical test, renewal fee	Yes	Box 30	Refresher training in your existing trade is allowable.
CPCS training for a new plant category (A09 dumper, A17 telehandler, A35 wheeled loader)	Yes	Box 30	Extension of your existing plant-operator skill set — allowable.
CSCS card renewal + CITB Health, Safety & Environment test	Yes	Box 30	Mandatory site-access card; renewal and test fee are allowable.
Small tools — gloves, tape measure, snap-off knife, head torch	Yes	Box 22 — Repairs and maintenance of property and equipment	Limited tool spend because the plant is supplied by the site.
Mobile phone bill — business proportion	Partly	Box 23 — Phone, fax, stationery and other office costs	Estimate honestly. 60–80% is typical for an operator running site bookings and timesheets through the phone.
Timesheet / scheduling app, accounting software	Yes	Box 23	Monthly subscriptions allowable in full.
Public liability insurance (if not covered by the site)	Yes	Box 21 — Rent, rates, power and insurance costs	Many main contractors require operators to carry their own cover; check your contract before relying on the site's policy.
Working from home flat rate (timesheets, invoicing, admin)	Yes	Box 21	£10 / £18 / £26 a month for 25–50 / 51–100 / 101+ hours business use.
Accountant or bookkeeper fee	Yes	Box 28 — Accountancy, legal and other professional fees	Including the cost of preparing your Self Assessment.
CIS deductions taken from your day rate by the main contractor	Tax credit (not expense)	Box 81 — Total CIS deductions taken from your payments by contractors	NOT an expense — it's tax you've already paid. Set it against your final tax bill; any excess is refunded.
Plain trousers, T-shirts, ordinary trainers	No	—	HMRC: "you cannot claim for everyday clothing (even if you wear it for work)."
Daily lunch and coffee on sites close to home	No	—	Subsistence is only allowable on overnight trips away from your normal area.
Speeding fines, parking penalties	No	—	Fines are never allowable.
Depreciation of plant you don't own (telehandler, excavator)	No	—	The plant belongs to the contractor or hire company — there's nothing for you to depreciate.

Box numbers from HMRC SA103F Notes 2026. SA103S (turnover under £90,000) maps to the same expense categories on boxes 11–19, with Box 38 for CIS deductions.

Worked example

Dave, a Newcastle telehandler & 360-excavator operator earning £42,000

The setup

Dave is 36, lives in Newcastle and has held a blue CPCS competent-operator card for nine years (A17 Telescopic Handler, A59 Forward-Tipping Dumper, A58 360 Excavator). He works day-rate through three main contractors across the North East and Yorkshire, and stays on overnight digs roughly 60 nights a year when sites are too far for a daily commute. He's CIS-registered, so every contractor deducts 20% from his day rate at source. Gross day-rate income for 2025–26 is £42,000; total CIS already deducted is £8,400. He drives 22,000 business miles a year in his Ford Focus.

What he claims at year end

Tracked through PocketReceipt across the year:

Mileage 22,000 mi — simplified rate (Box 20)£7,500

Overnight accommodation — 60 nights × ~£75 (Box 20)£4,500

Subsistence on those overnight trips (Box 20)£540

PPE — Class 3 hi-vis, boots, gloves, ear defenders (Box 30)£220

CPCS Renewal Theory + Practical Tests (Box 30)£345

New CPCS category training — wheeled loader A35 (Box 30)£680

CSCS card + CITB H&S test renewal (Box 30)£75

Small tools — tape, knife, head torch (Box 22)£60

Mobile phone, 70% business (Box 23)£252

Timesheet + accounting app (Box 23)£108

Public liability insurance (Box 21)£180

Accountant fee (Box 28)£380

Working from home flat rate, 12 × £10 (Box 21)£120

Total allowable expenses£14,960

The maths

Gross income £42,000 minus £14,960 of expenses leaves a taxable profit of £27,040. After the £12,570 personal allowance, £14,470 falls in the basic-rate band. Income Tax at 20% is £2,894. Class 4 NICs at 6% on profits between £12,570 and £50,270 add £868. Total tax due: £3,762.

HMRC already has £8,400 in CIS deductions from Dave. So he's due a refund of £4,638 on his 2025–26 return — paid by HMRC within weeks of filing if there are no queries.

What it would have cost without the records

If Dave had only claimed the obvious — mileage, his accountant fee and his replacement PPE, around £8,100 — his taxable profit would be £33,900. Income Tax would be £4,266 and Class 4 NICs £1,280, total £5,546. His refund would shrink to £2,854. The accommodation, subsistence and training records put an extra £1,784 in his bank — money that would otherwise have stayed with HMRC.

What goes wrong

Common tax mistakes UK plant operators make

Not registering for CISIf you're not on HMRC's CIS register your contractors must deduct 30% from every payment instead of 20%. Registration is free and immediate — the rate drops as soon as your details match HMRC's records.
Reporting the net (after-CIS) amount as turnoverSelf Assessment turnover is the GROSS day rate the contractor billed — not what landed in your bank after the 20% deduction. Then you enter the deductions taken in Box 81 (SA103F) or Box 38 (SA103S) to set them against your final bill. Reporting net understates income and HMRC will spot it.
Losing CIS Payment and Deduction StatementsBy law each main contractor must give you one within 14 days of the end of each tax month. Without them, you can't prove the deductions and your refund is delayed. Chase any missing statement the day after the 19th of the month.
Skipping overnight accommodation as a claimable costHotels, B&Bs and lodgings on temporary-workplace overnight stays are allowable in Box 20 along with reasonable food costs while you're away. On 60 overnight nights at £75 a night, that's £4,500 of expense relief — many operators miss it because the contractor pays them a "lodging allowance" they then spend on accommodation. Both legs need to be on the return.
Treating daily food on a local site as subsistenceSubsistence is only allowable on overnight trips away from your normal working area. A daily butty van bacon roll on a site close to home is not deductible — same rule as for any other worker.
Claiming travel to a site you've worked on for over 24 monthsHMRC's 24-month rule (EIM32080) treats a long-term site as your regular workplace and stops travel and subsistence being allowable from the date you know the run will exceed 24 months. Stop claiming on that date and switch to ordinary commuting.
Ordinary clothes claimed as workwearPlain trousers, T-shirts and ordinary trainers are never allowable, even if you only wear them on site. Class 3 hi-vis, steel-toe boots, hard hat, gloves and ear defenders — yes.
Trying to claim depreciation on the plantThe telehandler, dumper, excavator or crane belongs to the contractor or the hire company. You're paid as a labour-only operator — there's nothing for you to depreciate. Don't put plant on the return.
Confusing UTR with "another tax"UTR is just your 10-digit HMRC reference number. The tax is the same Income Tax + Class 4 NICs that every sole trader pays. CIS is a 20% prepayment mechanism, not a separate tax — you reclaim it through Self Assessment.
Filing in January when you could have filed in AprilMost plant operators are owed a refund. Self Assessment opens 6 April; HMRC typically pays the refund within weeks of filing. Waiting until 31 January means you've lent HMRC your money interest-free for nine months.
Missing the 5 October registration deadlineIf you went self-employed in the 2025–26 tax year you must register for Self Assessment by 5 October 2026. HMRC can charge a "failure to notify" penalty as a percentage of the tax due.

Plan ahead

Year-end tax tips for plant operators

Pull every CIS statement by the end of AprilGet all 12 monthly statements on a single spreadsheet within a few weeks of the tax year ending. Far easier to chase a missing March statement in April than nine months later.
Reconcile accommodation and subsistence per siteTag each hotel and dinner receipt to the site it was for, with the dates. If HMRC ever asks, you can show that each overnight was a genuine temporary workplace and the trip wasn't ordinary commuting.
Pay CPCS / CSCS / CITB renewals before 5 AprilCPCS Renewal Theory + Practical, CSCS card renewal, the CITB Health, Safety & Environment test, training for a new plant category — pay the fees before 5 April so the deductions land in the current tax year (under cash basis).
Apply for gross payment status if your net construction turnover is over £30,000It's not automatic — HMRC runs a turnover test, a compliance test and a business test — but if you qualify, contractors stop deducting 20% at source. Better cashflow during the year; you still settle the same tax bill at year-end.
Check your Class 4 NIC band crossingFor 2025–26 Class 4 NICs are 6% on profits between £12,570 and £50,270, then 2% above. Most full-time operators stay in the 6% band; if you're approaching £50,270 a well-timed expense before year-end can shift a chunk of profit into the lower-rate band.
File as soon as the tax year endsSelf Assessment opens 6 April. Most plant operators are owed a refund. File in April and HMRC typically pays out in May or June, not the following January.
Get ready for MTD ITSAFrom 6 April 2026, sole traders with combined self-employment + property income over £50,000 must file quarterly cumulative updates. The threshold drops to £30,000 from April 2027 — which catches most full-time plant operators. First quarterly update for 2026–27 is due 7 August 2026, then 7 November, 7 February and 7 May, plus a Final Declaration on 31 January 2028.

Common questions

FAQ for plant operators

Is UTR a different kind of tax?

No. UTR (Unique Taxpayer Reference) is just your 10-digit HMRC reference number — every self-employed person has one. The tax is the same Income Tax + Class 4 National Insurance on your profit. CIS deductions taken from your day rate by the contractor are not a separate tax — they're a 20% prepayment that you set against your final bill on your Self Assessment return.

Why do most plant operators get a tax refund?

Contractors deduct 20% CIS from every payment they make to you. Once you claim all your real expenses on your Self Assessment, your actual tax bill is usually less than the 20% that's already been deducted at source — the difference is refunded by HMRC, usually within weeks of filing.

Can I claim accommodation when I'm away on a site?

Yes — if the site is a temporary workplace and you stay overnight away from your normal home base, the cost of B&B, hotel rooms or lodgings is allowable, plus a reasonable amount for food while you're away. HMRC's 24-month rule applies: once you know a site will run beyond 24 months, it becomes a regular workplace and the travel and subsistence stop being allowable.

Do CPCS card renewals count as allowable expenses?

Yes — CPCS renewal theory tests, practical tests, and training for new plant categories all count as refresher and extension training in your existing trade, allowable in Box 30. CSCS card renewal and the CITB Health, Safety & Environment test are allowable on the same basis.

Can I claim simplified mileage in my own car?

Yes — 45p per business mile for the first 10,000 miles, 25p after that. Cannot be combined with capital allowances or actual costs on the same vehicle. Most operators going to multiple sites do well on simplified mileage because their car is cheap to run and the miles add up fast.

Do I need to register for VAT?

Only if your taxable turnover exceeds £90,000 in any rolling 12-month period. Most self-employed plant operators stay under, but high day-rate work on rail or major civils can push you close — check the rolling 12-month total each month, not just the tax year.

When is my tax due?

Self Assessment for the 2025–26 tax year is due online by 31 January 2027. If you owe more than £1,000 (most operators don't — they're owed a refund) you also make payments on account on 31 January and 31 July. Most plant operators are owed a refund rather than owing, so payments on account don't usually apply. From 6 April 2026, operators with combined income over £50,000 also file quarterly MTD ITSA updates.

Sources & further reading

HMRC and PocketReceipt references used on this page

HMRC, Construction Industry Scheme — overview
HMRC, What you must do as a CIS subcontractor
HMRC, CIS subcontractor — getting paid
HMRC, How to get CIS gross payment status
HMRC, CIS contractor — making deductions and 14-day statement rule
HMRC, EIM32080 — 24-month rule for temporary workplaces
HMRC, Expenses if you're self-employed — overview
HMRC, Clothing expenses
HMRC, Simplified expenses — vehicles (45p / 25p / 24p flat rates)
HMRC, Simplified expenses — working from home
HMRC, Cash basis accounting (default since April 2024)
HMRC, Self-employed National Insurance rates
HMRC, Self Assessment deadlines
HMRC, Making Tax Digital for Income Tax
HMRC, SA103F Notes 2026 — Self-employment (full) (PDF)
PocketReceipt, CIS deduction calculator · Mileage calculator · MTD Forecaster
PocketReceipt, For Construction & CIS subbies · Sole-trader allowable expenses — full guide · MTD ITSA quarterly checklist

Worked example figures are illustrative. Tax rates use 2025–26 thresholds: personal allowance £12,570; basic-rate Income Tax 20%; Class 4 NICs 6% on profits between £12,570 and £50,270, 2% above. PocketReceipt is a record-keeping app, not a tax adviser — speak to an accountant for advice on your situation.