Making Tax Digital · Fencers & deckers
Making Tax Digital for fencers and deckers: 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 fencers and deckers
A self-employed fencer supplying posts, panels and concrete is over £30,000 of turnover on about twenty gardens, because materials are half the price of every job. If 2025 to 2026 came to more than £30,000, Making Tax Digital starts on 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 fencers and deckers' numbers
A fencer took £38,500 in 2025 to 2026, supply and fit for homeowners and two decks, with no CIS. £17,000 went on posts, panels, postcrete, decking boards and the van. HMRC's figure is £38,500, so 6 April 2027.
- Invoiced, before expenses
- £38,500
- Materials, costs, subbies
- £17,000
- HMRC's figure
- £38,500
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 fencers and deckers
Putting up a fence or a deck is building a structure, so a developer or a landscaping contractor paying you on a site can deduct 20% from the labour. Most fencing is for homeowners, who deduct nothing. For Making Tax Digital every job counts in full, posts and panels included.
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 fencers and deckers lose
- Panels and posts collected from the fencing supplier, paid on the day, five jobs to one receipt.
- Postcrete and fixings picked up from the merchant on the way, on a personal card.
- The quick repair jobs after a storm, paid in cash at the door.
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 fencers and deckers ask
A developer paid me for fencing on a new estate and took 20% off. Is that right?
Fencing on a site can count as building a structure, so a contractor can deduct; their statement tells you. GOV.UK says the deduction counts towards your tax and National Insurance, and your turnover is the gross amount they paid.
Materials are half my price. Do they really count as turnover?
Yes. Qualifying income is before expenses. A £1,800 fence with £900 of posts and panels in it is £1,800 of turnover, and the £900 is your expense. That's how fencers pass £30,000 on modest profits.
I'm busy in summer and quiet in winter. Do the quarters matter?
Only for the deadlines. Each update is totals for the year so far, due on 7 August, 7 November, 7 February and 7 May. A quiet quarter is just a small change in the running total.
Do I have to send HMRC each fence I put up?
No. GOV.UK says the quarterly update is totals for each income and expense category, and HMRC doesn't receive the individual invoices or receipts. Record each job and each trip to the fencing supplier as you go; the software adds them up.
I'm just over £20,000 and well under £30,000. What's my date?
Not April 2027, because that needs over £30,000 for 2025 to 2026. If your 2026 to 2027 turnover is over £20,000, your date is 6 April 2028. GOV.UK says £20,000 or under is automatically exempt.
Is Making Tax Digital more tax or just more admin?
Neither, if the records are kept as you go. The tax is worked out from your profit on the return, as now. What changes is four updates of category totals a year through software, built from the jobs and receipts you've already recorded, and the return by 31 January as before.
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)
