Chancellor Gordon Brown has postponed the introduction of a revised version of the CIS tax scheme because of technical difficulties.
The Construction Confederation had called on Brown to defer implementation in its pre-Budget submission to the Treasury.

The confederation said that it was unrealistic to attempt to bring in the scheme in April 2005 as there would not be time to design and test computer systems.

The amended version of the CIS scheme is to be largely computer based. The Inland Revenue will try to carry out most of the form completions on its website.

The chancellor agreed to defer implementation until April 2006.

Construction Confederation chief executive Stephen Ratcliffe said he was delighted the chancellor had listened. He said: "Although the present scheme is hugely expensive to operate, we do not believe change should be rushed."