Making Tax Digital · Landscapers
Making Tax Digital for landscapers: 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 landscapers
A self-employed landscaper doing hard landscaping is over £30,000 of turnover on a few gardens, because the slabs, the aggregate and the skips are in every price, and the maintenance rounds add income every week. 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 landscapers' numbers
A landscaper took £76,000 in 2025 to 2026: six patios and gardens for homeowners, weekly maintenance rounds, and a developer's show home garden with £1,800 of CIS taken off. £38,000 went on slabs, aggregates, plants, turf, skips, digger hire and a labourer. HMRC's figure is £76,000, and over £50,000 in 2024 to 2025 meant 6 April 2026.
- Invoiced, before expenses
- £76,000
- Materials, costs, subbies
- £38,000
- CIS taken off by contractors
- £1,800
- What reached the bank
- £74,200
- HMRC's figure
- £76,000
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 landscapers
Walls, patios, drainage and groundwork are building work and preparing the site, so a developer or a main contractor paying you for them deducts 20% from the labour. Mowing, planting and maintenance aren't construction work, and homeowners deduct nothing whatever the job. For Making Tax Digital every job counts in full, slabs and plants 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 landscapers lose
- Maintenance rounds at £40 a visit, paid by bank transfer with no invoice, every week.
- Slabs and aggregates on the merchant account, plants from the nursery on a card, for one garden.
- The self-employed labourer you pay by the day on hard landscaping, which makes you a contractor under CIS.
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 landscapers ask
Maintenance rounds and patios. One business for the threshold?
Yes. All your landscaping income is one self-employment, and the rounds and the builds add together for the £30,000 check and for the quarterly totals.
A developer deducted 20% from a show home garden. Is landscaping CIS?
The hard parts are: walls, patios, drainage and groundwork are building work and site preparation on GOV.UK's list. Planting and maintenance aren't. A contractor who deducts must give you a statement, and your turnover is the gross.
Plants and turf for the customer. Turnover or not?
If the customer paid you for them, turnover, with what you paid the nursery as an expense. If the customer bought them and you only planted, only your labour is turnover.
Weekly maintenance rounds paid by bank transfer. Is each one a record?
Yes, each payment is income with amount and date. GOV.UK says the quarterly update sends category totals, not the payments, so a bank feed matched to the customer does the recording for you.
I'm a landscaper and I let a flat. Does the rent add on?
Yes. GOV.UK's qualifying income is self-employment and property income together, before expenses, and all your UK lets are one property business. £27,000 of landscaping plus £6,000 of rent is £33,000, so April 2027.
What if I miss the 7 August update because it's peak season?
From 2027 to 2028 a late update earns one penalty point, four points is £200 and each later miss is £200 again. Points expire after 24 months, except that at four you must file on time for 12 months and send anything outstanding from the last 24 to clear them. GOV.UK lets you send updates early, so file in July if August is mad.
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)
