Making Tax Digital · Bathroom fitters
Making Tax Digital for bathroom fitters: do you need it?
170 days until it starts for sole traders over £30,000
Checked against GOV.UK, 14 October 2026.
The short answer for bathroom fitters
A self-employed bathroom fitter supplying and fitting is over £30,000 of turnover on four or five bathrooms, because the suite, the tiles and the shower are in the price. Over £30,000 for 2025 to 2026 means Making Tax Digital from 6 April 2027.
The thresholds, from GOV.UK (26 March 2026): over £50,000 for 2024 to 2025 started on 6 April 2026, over £30,000 for 2025 to 2026 starts on 6 April 2027, over £20,000 for 2026 to 2027 starts on 6 April 2028. All counted as turnover, before expenses.
The figure HMRC checks
HMRC checks your qualifying income: everything that came in from self-employment and property, before expenses. GOV.UK calls it turnover. Wages from a PAYE job don't count.
The figure is what you invoiced, not what landed in the bank. GOV.UK says the deductions a contractor takes count as advance payments towards your tax and National Insurance bill, and qualifying income is counted before expenses, so the 20% that came off is still part of your turnover.
A worked year, in bathroom fitters' numbers
A bathroom fitter took £63,000 in 2025 to 2026 on eleven supply and fit bathrooms for homeowners, no CIS. £29,000 went on suites, tiles, showers, boarding and the van. HMRC's figure is £63,000, which was over £50,000 in 2024 to 2025 too, so this fitter should have started on 6 April 2026.
- Invoiced, before expenses
- £63,000
- Materials, costs, subbies
- £29,000
- HMRC's figure
- £63,000
Making Tax Digital from 6 April 2027 at the latest
Over £30,000 in 2025 to 2026 means 6 April 2027. If it was over £50,000 in 2024 to 2025 as well, it should have started on 6 April 2026.
Need it? Sort it in two minutes.
InstaQuote, 7 days free, then from £47 a month only if you carry on. ANNA opens from inside it, free for your first year. About 2 minutes.
- InstaQuote does the quotes, the invoices and the chasing.
- ANNA is the MTD software your updates go to HMRC through, free for your first year.
- You do the job.
- Not sure where to start? Reply to your welcome email and I'll set it up with you.
- ANNA gives you a personal tax calendar with reminders, so no quarter slips past.
- Prefer your accountant? They can still do it, and your records are ready for them.
I'm Tom, the founder. Ten years in the trade, every quote done in the van. If it's not quicker than what you do now, bin it and tell me why.
AdInstaQuote: 7 days free, then from £47 a month only if you carry on. ANNA: £0 monthly fee to start, MTD for Self Assessment free for the first year, and a personal tax calendar with reminders (anna.money, 14 October 2026). InstaQuote may be paid by ANNA if you open an account through us. ANNA's terms apply.
CIS and bathroom fitters
A bathroom refit is alterations plus installing water systems, both on GOV.UK's construction list, so a bathroom company or a builder paying you deducts 20% from the labour. Homeowners paying you direct don't. Supply and fit for a homeowner puts the whole price into your Making Tax Digital turnover.
The rate, from GOV.UK: 20% if you're registered for CIS, 30% if you're not, nothing if you have gross payment status. Whoever deducts must give you a statement, and that statement is your proof.
The records bathroom fitters lose
- Suites and showers bought from three suppliers, paid on three different cards, for one job.
- The subbie electrician and plasterer you paid on a bathroom, which makes you their contractor under CIS.
- Deposits taken at quote stage, which need recording the day they land, with the date, so the right year gets them.
Every three months your software sends HMRC totals for each income and expense category, not the receipts themselves. The updates are due on 7 August, 7 November, 7 February and 7 May, and each one covers the tax year so far.
InstaQuote holds those quotes, invoices and expenses as you work, so they can go into your Making Tax Digital software as the digital records. It isn't that software itself. ANNA, our partner, is the software your updates and return go to HMRC through.
Questions bathroom fitters ask
I pay a sparky and a plasterer on every bathroom. Does that put me in CIS?
Paying subcontractors for construction work makes you a contractor under CIS, so you register, deduct from their labour (20% if they're registered, 30% if not, nothing with gross payment status) and report it monthly. Their invoices are your expenses for Making Tax Digital, so keep each one.
Is a deposit income when I take it or when I finish the job?
Record it when you receive it, so it's in the right quarter's totals. Your accountant can advise on year-end treatment, but the quarterly update only needs the totals of what came in and went out.
I was over £50,000 in 2024 to 2025. What now?
GOV.UK says you should have started on 6 April 2026. Set up now, bring the year's records in, and ask your accountant about the updates already missed.
Eleven bathrooms a year and a hundred receipts each. Does HMRC want all of them?
No. GOV.UK says the quarterly update is totals for each income and expense category, and HMRC does not receive the receipts or invoices themselves. You keep the originals or copies; the software sends the totals.
What happens if I send an update late?
From the 2027 to 2028 tax year, one penalty point per late update; four points is a £200 penalty and each further late update is £200 again. A lone point expires after 24 months; at four, GOV.UK says you clear them with 12 months on time plus anything outstanding from the last 24 months. No points were given for late updates in 2026 to 2027, before the April 2027 group starts.
I started trading in October 2025, so only half a year. How does the £30,000 test work?
GOV.UK says HMRC annualises a sole trader's qualifying income when it has the information, so a short first year is scaled up to twelve months. £18,000 in six months counts as £36,000, which is over the line for April 2027.
Does InstaQuote file my Making Tax Digital updates?
No. InstaQuote holds the quotes, invoices and expenses so they can go into your Making Tax Digital software as the digital records; it isn't that software itself. ANNA, our partner, is the software your updates and return go to HMRC through, from the business account you open inside your InstaQuote account.
Checked against GOV.UK
- GOV.UK: Check if you're eligible for Making Tax Digital for Income Tax (updated 26 March 2026)
- GOV.UK: Work out your qualifying income (updated 11 September 2026)
- GOV.UK: Use Making Tax Digital for Income Tax (updated 7 September 2026)
- GOV.UK: Send quarterly updates (updated 7 September 2026)
- GOV.UK: Penalties for Income Tax Self Assessment volunteers (updated 12 March 2026)
- GOV.UK: Penalties for Making Tax Digital for Income Tax (updated 30 March 2026)
- GOV.UK: Sign up for Making Tax Digital for Income Tax (updated 13 October 2026)
- GOV.UK: Create digital records (updated 7 September 2026)
- GOV.UK: Find software that's compatible (updated 13 July 2026)
- GOV.UK: Apply for an exemption (updated 17 August 2026)
- GOV.UK: CIS deductions from your payments (read 14 October 2026)
- GOV.UK: HMRC's Transformation Roadmap (no MTD for Corporation Tax) (updated 21 July 2025)
- GOV.UK: What is the Construction Industry Scheme (what counts as construction work) (read 14 October 2026)
- GOV.UK: What you must do as a CIS subcontractor (deductions) (read 14 October 2026)
- GOV.UK: What you must do as a CIS contractor (statements, monthly returns) (read 14 October 2026)
