In the day-to-day hustle and bustle of construction, building and civil engineering craftsmen juggle a multitude of tasks. In addition to planning and supervising construction sites, they also have to juggle complex and time-consuming administrative procedures. Faced with these challenges, simplifying administrative and fiscal procedures has become an unavoidable priority.
In this article, explore how online pro accounts can be the key to alleviating this burden and offering practical solutions to building tradesmen.
The importance of good administrative and tax management for your construction business
When you launch your business as a building and civil engineering craftsman, finding customers and managing construction sites are not the only tasks you'll need to perform. You'll also need to familiarize yourself with all the administrative and tax management that goes with your legal status. Certain legal obligations have to be met, and these steps are often neglected or postponed because of their time-consuming nature. However, delays can jeopardize your company's cash flow and lead to penalties.
Administrative management: your quotes and invoices
Before planning any construction, maintenance or repair work, building and civil engineering contractors are required to present their prospects with an estimate, whatever the trade (masonry, joinery, insulation, plumbing, painting...).
The service only begins once the customer has signed the quotation, which acts as a contract between the two parties. This is a crucial step, as the estimate must contain all the mandatory information to be valid.
Although much of the information is similar to that required in other professional fields - such as the contact details of the craftsman and the customer, a detailed description, the general terms and conditions of sale (GTCS) and the cooling-off period - some details are specific to building companies, notably the trade register number and the ten-year guarantee.
Once the job has been completed, the estimate must be converted into an invoice. The invoice must contain the same information, including a specific number, the amount exclusive of tax (HT) and inclusive of tax (TTC), as well as the date of issue and due date. It's important tocomplete this formality as quickly as possible, so as not to prolong payment times and impact your company's working capital.
Tax management: your VAT return
In addition to the tax system and social security contributions linked to the choice of legal status, building and civil engineering contractors must also file a VAT return. Value-added tax is an indirect tax that is invoiced to the customer by your construction company supplying goods and/or services. The VAT collected in this way must then be paid to the tax authorities.
The procedure is annual for the simplified VAT system, and monthly for the standard VAT system. The forms to be used differ according to these systems. To determine the VAT regime applicable to your construction business, you need to refer to the sales threshold in force for your activity.
Forgetting to file your VAT return on time, or misstating the amounts involved, can result in financial penalties. The tax authorities may consider such actions to be deliberate fraud.
Online pro accounts to simplify administration and taxation for building and civil engineering contractors
Online business accounts differ from the solutions offered by traditional banks. In fact, online accounts include truly innovative digital solutions in their pro account formulas for building and civil engineering craftsmen.
In addition to traditional banking services, you have access to a complete financial management interface that allows you to centralize your procedures, while integrating administrative and tax simplification functions.
An integrated, intuitive billing tool
The VSE online account and the micro-business account provide you with an invoicing and quotation creation tool. This integrated solution has many advantages and saves you considerable time:
- Quickly create and duplicate quotation lines
- Turn a quote into an invoice in just a few clicks
- Integrate a payment link to speed up transactions
- Automate customer reminders to avoid overdue payments
- Benefit from a modern, professional image
- Ensure your regulatory compliance
- Improve your company's financial transparency
- Simplify your accounting by consolidating financial documents in one place.
Features that simplify VAT management
The financial management interface of your online business account offers features that simplify day-to-day VAT management, including:
- Display VAT on your account statements, in association with the corresponding invoices
- Automatic VAT calculation to avoid errors
- Centralization of expense reports and archiving of digital copies for declaring deductible VAT
- The creation of sub-accounts allocated to provisions for charges with a view to payment of the advance or balance of VAT
- Online registration of direct debit mandates to avoid the risk of transaction rejection
- A dashboard and notifications to make sure you never miss a tax deadline
Quick and easy opening of your business account
An online account simplifies the process even before you start using it. Opening a business account is done entirely remotely. You don't need to visit a branch to finalize your application.
Registration takes just a few minutes, and as soon as it is validated, you have access to the banking services to which you have subscribed, as well as to the integrated tools and additional functionalities.