# Trades firm paperwork check: ten yes-or-no questions on quotes, tax and getting paid > Ten yes-or-no questions for a UK trades firm on quotes, terms, CIS, VAT, Making Tax Digital, sick pay, scrap and certificates, each with the rule behind it. - Page to cite: https://aeolookup.com/trades/trades-firm-paperwork-readiness-check/ - Publisher: AEO Lookup (https://aeolookup.com/) - Section: Trades and building firms, Rules and paperwork - Published 1 October 2026 - Key fact: We wrote ten questions from the rules set out in 9 of our guides; for 5 of the ten the answer that is in order is "no", so the check cannot be passed by ticking yes. The first asks: When a householder agrees a job in their own home, does your quote include the cancellation information and form? Without it, the Consumer Contracts Regulations 2013 let the customer cancel for up to 12 months and 14 days, and they owe nothing for work already done. - Sources: Consumer Contracts Regulations 2013, regulations 31 and 36; Consumer Contracts Regulations 2013, regulation 36; Consumer Rights Act 2015, sections 49 and 57; GOV.UK, CIS monthly returns and penalties; GOV.UK, Making Tax Digital for Income Tax: qualifying income; GOV.UK, Late commercial payments: charging interest and debt recovery; GOV.UK, VAT registration: when to register; GOV.UK, Statutory Sick Pay: employer guide; HMRC SA103F Notes 2026; Scrap Metal Dealers Act 2013, sections 12 and 15; Building Regulations, regulation 20; each rule is set out with its source in the guide the question links to. The test record is in tests/readiness/tools-check.txt. This check is for the owner or office manager of a small UK trades or building firm. The ten questions cover the rules our guides set out on quotes and cancellation rights, your terms, CIS returns, VAT, Making Tax Digital, sick pay, scrap money and electrical certificates. Answer from memory; each answer shows the rule and the guide that explains it. There are ten questions and they take about five minutes. Answer from memory. "Not sure" counts as a gap, because a rule nobody in the office can recall is a rule nobody is checking. **Free tool on the page:** Trades firm paperwork check: ten yes-or-no questions on quotes, tax and getting paid. It runs in the browser at https://aeolookup.com/trades/trades-firm-paperwork-readiness-check/#tool and asks for no sign-up. ## What each question checks **1. When a householder agrees a job in their own home, does your quote include the cancellation information and form?** The answer that is in order is "yes". Without it, the Consumer Contracts Regulations 2013 let the customer cancel for up to 12 months and 14 days, and they owe nothing for work already done. Source: Consumer Contracts Regulations 2013, regulations 31 and 36. The working is in [How to write a quote for a job](https://aeolookup.com/trades/how-to-write-a-quote-for-a-job-trades/). **2. Do you ever start a householder's job inside the 14-day cancellation period without a written request from them to start early?** The answer that is in order is "no". Regulation 36 says work must not start in the 14 days unless the customer asks, in writing for a job agreed at their home. Only then do they pay for work done if they cancel. Source: Consumer Contracts Regulations 2013, regulation 36. The working is in [Terms and conditions template for tradespeople](https://aeolookup.com/trades/terms-and-conditions-template-tradespeople-uk/). **3. Do your terms say you accept no liability for faults once a job is finished or signed off?** The answer that is in order is "no". Section 57 of the Consumer Rights Act 2015 says a term that excludes your liability for work not done with reasonable care and skill is not binding on a householder. Source: Consumer Rights Act 2015, sections 49 and 57. The working is in [Terms and conditions template for tradespeople](https://aeolookup.com/trades/terms-and-conditions-template-tradespeople-uk/). **4. If you pay subcontractors under CIS, has every monthly return this year gone in by the 19th?** The answer that is in order is "yes". The CIS return is due by the 19th of every month. A return one day late costs £100, and at six months late the penalty is £300 or 5% of the deductions, whichever is higher. Source: GOV.UK, CIS monthly returns and penalties. The working is in [CIS monthly return](https://aeolookup.com/trades/cis-monthly-return-19th-late-penalties/). **5. Have you checked your turnover, not your profit, against the £50,000 Making Tax Digital line?** The answer that is in order is "yes". Qualifying income is income before expenses. A sole trader turning over £68,000 with £41,000 profit has been in Making Tax Digital since 6 April 2026, and the line drops to £30,000 on 6 April 2027. Source: GOV.UK, Making Tax Digital for Income Tax: qualifying income. The working is in [Making Tax Digital for sole-trader trades](https://aeolookup.com/trades/making-tax-digital-income-tax-tradesperson/). **6. Do you add statutory late payment interest or the fixed recovery fee to overdue invoices sent to householders?** The answer that is in order is "no". Statutory interest at 8% over base rate and the fixed fees of £40, £70 or £100 apply to business customers only. Claiming them from a householder is claiming something the law does not give you. Source: GOV.UK, Late commercial payments: charging interest and debt recovery. The working is in [How to chase an unpaid invoice as a builder](https://aeolookup.com/trades/chase-unpaid-invoice-letter-template-builders/). **7. Do you add up your last 12 months of sales at the end of every month to check the VAT threshold?** The answer that is in order is "yes". The £90,000 VAT test is a rolling 12 months, not a tax year. Once you go over, you must register within 30 days of the end of that month. Source: GOV.UK, VAT registration: when to register. The working is in [When a tradesperson has to register for VAT](https://aeolookup.com/trades/vat-registration-rolling-12-months-tradesperson/). **8. If an employee is off sick for two days, do you pay them statutory sick pay for both days?** The answer that is in order is "yes". Since 6 April 2026 statutory sick pay is due from the first full day off sick, at £123.25 a week or 80% of average weekly earnings if lower. That is £24.65 a day on a five-day week. Source: GOV.UK, Statutory Sick Pay: employer guide. The working is in [Statutory sick pay from day one](https://aeolookup.com/trades/statutory-sick-pay-day-one-small-trades-firm/). **9. Does any scrap money from your jobs stay out of your books, for example by being paid into a personal account and never recorded?** The answer that is in order is "no". Scrap money from your jobs is business turnover. On £600 of scrap a basic-rate sole trader owes £156, and dealers in England and Wales cannot pay cash and keep records for 3 years. Source: HMRC SA103F Notes 2026; Scrap Metal Dealers Act 2013, sections 12 and 15. The working is in [Do you have to pay tax on scrap copper? What a tradesperson declares, and why the yard cannot pay cash](https://aeolookup.com/trades/scrap-copper-tax-tradesperson-cash-ban/). **10. Do you hold back the electrical certificate on notifiable work until the customer has paid?** The answer that is in order is "no". For notifiable work, the certificate must reach the occupier and building control within 30 days of completion, whether or not the invoice has been paid. Source: Building Regulations, regulation 20. The working is in [Electrical certificates explained](https://aeolookup.com/trades/electrical-certificates-explained-eic-eicr-a4/). ## How to use the result The list under your score is a to-do list. Each line names the rule, where it comes from and the page that shows how to deal with it. Put a name and a date against each one. A gap that has an owner and a date is being handled; a gap that everyone knows about and nobody owns is how firms end up explaining themselves later. Do the check again each quarter, and again whenever a rule in this sector changes. Give it to a second person in the office without showing them your answers. Where the two of you disagree, the procedure is not written down clearly enough, and that is worth knowing whichever of you is right. A good score is not a certificate. The questions cover the points our guides cover, which are the ones that come up most often in a small firm; they are not every duty a firm has. This page is general information, not legal advice. Overlyft ![](https://aeolookup.com/img/d/ours-badge.png) sets up AI assistants for trades and building firms: they prepare drafts for a person to approve. They do not make a firm compliant, and none of the ten answers depends on them. --- ![](https://aeolookup.com/img/d/owner-line.png) General information for UK small firms, not legal, tax or financial advice.