Making Tax Digital · Floor fitters
Making Tax Digital for floor 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 floor fitters
A self-employed floor fitter supplying and fitting is over £30,000 of turnover on a handful of houses, because the flooring is in the price. Fitting only, for a shop or a carpet retailer, takes longer to get there. Either way the check is your 2025 to 2026 turnover against £30,000, and over means 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 floor fitters' numbers
A floor fitter took £36,000 in 2025 to 2026, a mix of fitting for a carpet shop and supply and fit laminate and LVT for homeowners. No CIS was deducted. £14,000 went on flooring, underlay, grippers, adhesive and the van. HMRC's figure is £36,000, so 6 April 2027.
- Invoiced, before expenses
- £36,000
- Materials, costs, subbies
- £14,000
- HMRC's figure
- £36,000
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 floor fitters
Carpet fitting is one of the few jobs GOV.UK names as not covered by CIS, so a carpet fitter paid by a contractor gets no deduction. Other floor laying on a site is building work, so a contractor paying you for wood, laminate, vinyl or tiled floors can deduct 20% from the labour; their statement tells you. For Making Tax Digital the difference doesn't matter: every invoice counts 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 floor fitters lose
- Fitting paid per square metre by the retailer on a weekly statement, with nothing else to show for it.
- Underlay, grippers and adhesive bought by the roll and used across five jobs.
- Flooring the customer paid you for that you then paid the supplier for, which is both income and expense.
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 floor fitters ask
I fit for a carpet shop. Am I self-employed or do they employ me?
If you invoice them per job or per metre and sort your own tax, you're self-employed and that income is turnover. If they pay you through PAYE with tax taken off, it's wages and doesn't count towards the threshold.
A builder paid me to fit laminate throughout a new build. Why did they take 20% off?
GOV.UK names carpet fitting as outside CIS and says nothing about other floors, so a contractor treats laying laminate on a site as building work and can deduct 20% from the labour. That's why carpet jobs for the same builder aren't deducted.
Does supply and fit put me over quicker than fitting only?
Yes. Turnover counts before expenses, so a £2,400 supply and fit job counts as £2,400 even if £1,500 of it was the flooring. Twelve of those is £28,800 before you've fitted a single retailer job.
What's actually in a quarterly update? Every job I fitted?
No. GOV.UK says each update carries totals for each income and expense category for the year so far, and HMRC does not receive the individual invoices or receipts. Fit forty floors in a quarter and HMRC sees one income total, not forty lines.
I'm a floor fitter with a flat I rent out. Do the two add together?
Yes. GOV.UK's qualifying income is self-employment and property income added together, before expenses. £24,000 of fitting plus £8,000 of rent is £32,000, which is over the line for April 2027. All your UK lets count as one property business.
Do I need to sign up, or does it just happen?
You sign up, or an agent does. GOV.UK says you must be registered for Self Assessment, have sent a return in the last two years, and you may be asked to confirm who you are with an app on your phone. If you're in from April 2027, do it before then.
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)
