Making Tax Digital · Guttering & fascia fitters
Making Tax Digital for guttering and fascia 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 guttering and fascia fitters
A self-employed guttering fitter doing supply and fit fascias is over £30,000 of turnover on about twelve houses, with the plastic and the fixings in every price. Over £30,000 for 2025 to 2026 means Making Tax Digital from 6 April 2027, and the gutter clears paid in cash count 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 guttering and fascia fitters' numbers
A guttering fitter took £33,000 in 2025 to 2026: fascia and soffit replacements for homeowners, gutter clears, and a contractor's job with £1,400 of CIS taken off. £11,500 went on uPVC, brackets, fixings, tower hire and the van. HMRC's figure is £33,000, so 6 April 2027.
- Invoiced, before expenses
- £33,000
- Materials, costs, subbies
- £11,500
- CIS taken off by contractors
- £1,400
- What reached the bank
- £31,600
- HMRC's figure
- £33,000
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 guttering and fascia fitters
Replacing fascias, soffits and guttering is repairs and alterations to a building, so a roofing contractor or a builder paying you deducts 20% from the labour. Homeowners paying you direct don't. Every job counts in full towards your Making Tax Digital figure.
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 guttering and fascia fitters lose
- Gutter clears at £80 cash, forty of them a year, that never reach the books.
- uPVC boards and brackets collected from the plastics supplier, one receipt for three roofs.
- Tower hire paid on the card and never matched to a job.
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 guttering and fascia fitters ask
Gutter clears are cash and small. Do they count?
Yes. Every payment for your work is self-employment income, cash or not, and it all adds to the turnover HMRC checks. Forty clears at £80 is £3,200, which is often the difference between under and over £30,000.
A roofer paid me to do the fascias on his job and took 20% off. Why?
Because replacing fascias and guttering is repairs and alterations to a building, which is construction work, and a contractor paying for it deducts. The deduction counts towards your tax; your turnover is the gross.
I'm just under £30,000. What should I watch?
Your 2026 to 2027 turnover. Over £20,000 in that year brings you in from 6 April 2028. A guttering fitter under £20,000 isn't on any date HMRC has set so far.
Forty gutter clears at £80 cash. Do they really need recording one by one?
Yes, each one is income with an amount and a date. GOV.UK says records must be digital, amount, date and category; the quarterly update then sends the total, not the list. Forty entries is forty taps over a year, and £3,200 that would otherwise be missing.
Can my wife, who does my books, send the updates?
GOV.UK says an agent can sign you up and act for you. Whether your wife can be set up with HMRC as your agent is one to check with HMRC or your accountant. Either way she needs your records as digital entries in MTD software; a notebook won't do, but the app's entries will.
What's the fine for a late update?
From the 2027 to 2028 tax year, a late quarterly update costs one penalty point, four points costs £200, and every late one after that is £200 again. GOV.UK says a point expires after 24 months, but at four they only go once you've filed on time for 12 months and sent anything outstanding from the previous 24. The 2026 to 2027 no-points year is before your group starts.
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)
