Making Tax Digital · Carpenters & joiners
Making Tax Digital for carpenters and joiners: 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 carpenters and joiners
A self-employed carpenter on site day rates for a builder, with a few homeowner jobs around it, is over £30,000 of turnover before the end of the year. If 2025 to 2026 was over £30,000, Making Tax Digital starts on 6 April 2027, and the timber you supplied counts as turnover too.
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 carpenters and joiners' numbers
A carpenter took £44,000 in 2025 to 2026: first and second fix for a builder who deducted £6,000 of CIS, two fitted wardrobes and a decking job for homeowners. £11,000 went on timber, sheet material, fixings, blades and the van. HMRC's figure is £44,000, so 6 April 2027.
- Invoiced, before expenses
- £44,000
- Materials, costs, subbies
- £11,000
- CIS taken off by contractors
- £6,000
- What reached the bank
- £38,000
- HMRC's figure
- £44,000
Making Tax Digital from 6 April 2027
Over £30,000 in the 2025 to 2026 tax year, so it starts on 6 April 2027. That tax year has ended, so the figure HMRC checks is the one on your 2025 to 2026 return. Only an amended return before 6 April 2027, or all your trade and property income stopping, changes it, and a short first year gets scaled up to 12 months (GOV.UK, qualifying income, 11 September 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 carpenters and joiners
First fix and second fix on a site is building work, so a contractor paying you deducts 20% from the labour. Making a piece in your workshop isn't construction work, so it's outside CIS, and homeowner jobs have no deduction. Your Making Tax Digital figure is every invoice in full.
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 carpenters and joiners lose
- Day rate for the builder, paid weekly, with the CIS statement arriving a month later.
- Timber and sheet material on the merchant account, one statement across four jobs.
- Fixings, blades and the odd tool from the trade counter, paid in cash.
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 carpenters and joiners ask
I make bespoke furniture in a workshop. Is that CIS?
Making the piece in your workshop isn't construction work, so it's outside CIS. Fitting it into a building on a contractor's job can be. Either way it's all self-employment income for the Making Tax Digital threshold.
Does the builder's day rate count before or after the 20%?
Before. A £200 day paid at £160 is £200 of turnover and £40 of tax paid on your behalf. Five days a week for forty weeks is £40,000 invoiced, however little of it you saw.
Do I need to send HMRC each invoice every quarter?
No. GOV.UK says the quarterly update carries totals for each income and expense category, not the records themselves. You keep the invoices and receipts; the software sends the totals.
I do two days PAYE for a shopfitter and three days on my own. What counts?
Only your own work. GOV.UK leaves PAYE wages out of qualifying income. If your self-employed carpentry came to more than £30,000 in 2025 to 2026 before expenses, you're in from 6 April 2027; if not, the April 2028 check looks at 2026 to 2027 against £20,000.
Does Making Tax Digital mean I pay more tax?
No. It changes how you report: digital records and quarterly updates through software, then your tax return by 31 January as now. What you pay still comes from your profit on the return. The only HMRC charge tied to the updates is a penalty for sending one late, and that starts in the 2027 to 2028 tax year.
What do my records have to show for each job?
GOV.UK says each digital record holds the amount, the date and the category of the income or expense, using the same categories as Self Assessment, and you keep the original invoice or receipt or a copy. The quote that becomes the invoice already carries all three.
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)
