Free accounting resources for UK building trades

Every free calculator, workbook, checklist and guide we have built for contractors, subcontractors and sole trader builders. CIS, the VAT reverse charge, day rates, retention and the year end. All of it free, none of it behind an email form, all of it on 2026/27 rates.

Format

30 resources, all free, no signup

Calculators

Work the number out on the page, then take the Excel version away.

Workbooks and trackers

Excel files that keep working after you close the tab.

Start hereTrades Bookkeeping TemplateTwelve months of profit and loss for a building business, with CIS suffered kept where it belongs. It is tax paid on account, not an expense, and putting it through the profit and loss understates your profit and then claims the same money twice.A £21,600 profit shows as a £3,960 loss if you expense the CISMaterials and subcontractors get their own lines, not one cost of salesTen per cent net margin, which is what a real trade looks likeFree Excel workbook CIS Deduction Statement LogEvery deduction taken off you, matched to the statement that proves it. You can only claim what you can evidence, and the statement is due within 14 days of the tax month end.Free Excel workbook CIS Monthly Return WorkbookTwelve returns with the three figures each one asks for, the tax month ending on the 5th, and what nil returns cost when a quiet winter goes unfiled.Free Excel workbook Job Costing WorkbookQuoted against actual on every job, with variations in their own columns, because they get done before they get priced and by invoice day nobody remembers what was agreed.Free Excel workbook Applications and Retentions TrackerApplied, certified, retained and due back. The gap between what you applied for and what was certified is usually the bigger debtor, and the one nobody chases.Free Excel workbook Tools and Equipment RegisterWhat you own, what you claimed, and the balancing charge when you sell it. The £1,000,000 allowance is never the constraint. The list is.Free Excel workbook Van and Mileage LogThe rate drops to 25p after 10,000 business miles, so a 12,000 mile year is £6,000 and not £6,600. Twelve months with the split worked out.Free Excel workbook 13-Week Cash Flow for TradesBuilt on stage payments and retention rather than weekly income. Wages go out every week and certificates do not, which is why profitable builders run short.Free Excel workbook Subcontractor Verification RegisterWho is verified, at what rate, under which number, and whose insurance expired last month. Unverified means 30 per cent from the first payment.Free Excel workbook

Checklists

Printable, timed, and ordered so nothing depends on something later.

Start hereCIS Monthly ComplianceThe CIS month in the order it has to happen, built around the 19th. The tax month ends on the 5th rather than the 31st, and a month in which you paid nobody still needs a return.Five sections, seventeen checks, spread across the monthStatements issued by the 11th, so questions arrive before the deadlineThe nil return, which is the most common CIS penalty there isFree printable checklist New Subcontractor OnboardingEverything to do before the first payment leaves. Verification is not retrospective, so the higher rate applied in error stays applied.Free printable checklist Reverse Charge InvoiceWhat has to be true before you quote, what goes on the invoice, and which VAT return box takes what on both sides of the supply.Free printable checklist Site-Based Worker ExpensesTravel, subsistence and the 24 month rule, which turns on expectation rather than hindsight and needs both tests met before a site becomes permanent.Free printable checklist Year-End Checklist for TradesWork in progress, retention and CIS suffered, which no general year-end list covers. A third of it has to happen before the date rather than after it.Free printable checklist

Guides and e-books

The longer reads, with worked examples on current rates.

Start hereThe Trade's UK Tax HandbookEverything the tax system does to a building business, in one place, on 2026/27 rates. Status, CIS, what you can deduct, the van, site travel, tools, VAT, work in progress and the year end.Why most double cab pickups stopped being vans in April 2025The 24 month rule, and the second test people forgetTen years of the same mistakes, in order of what they costFree e-book, ten chapters CIS ExplainedThe Construction Industry Scheme from both sides, for the contractor taking the deduction and the subcontractor it comes off. Four chapters each.Free e-book, eight chapters The VAT Reverse Charge for ConstructionWhat it is, when it applies, what it did to your working capital in March 2021, and what monthly returns would still give back.Free e-book, eight chapters Pricing a Job for ProfitDay rates, materials, variations, retention and cash. Why profitable trades run out of money, and the six things to change on Monday.Free e-book, eight chapters

Look it up

For when you need one word or one answer rather than a tool.

Construction and Trade GlossaryThirty terms the building trade uses differently, from CIS and the reverse charge to retention and work in progress, each with the free tool that deals with it.A to Z Ask an Accountant: ConstructionTwenty-three questions builders, subcontractors and contractors actually ask, answered the way they would be on a call.Question bank

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