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Making Tax Digital · Limited companies

Making Tax Digital for limited companies: does it apply to you?

Checked against GOV.UK, 14 October 2026.

The short answer

No. GOV.UK says Making Tax Digital for Income Tax is for sole traders and landlords registered for Self Assessment, and HMRC's Transformation Roadmap says it does not intend to introduce it for Corporation Tax. Two things still count: Making Tax Digital for VAT if the company is VAT registered, and the director's own trade or rental income as an individual.

What a limited company does have to do

VAT. GOV.UK says all VAT-registered businesses should now be signed up for Making Tax Digital for VAT. If your company is VAT registered, GOV.UK says it should already be signed up for Making Tax Digital for VAT, and you no longer need to sign up yourself.

Corporation Tax. HMRC consulted on Making Tax Digital for Corporation Tax in 2020 to 2021, then said in its Transformation Roadmap, published on GOV.UK on 21 July 2025, that it does not intend to introduce it. Your company pays Corporation Tax on its profits as it does now.

The director's own income is a different question

Making Tax Digital for Income Tax looks at you as an individual, not at the company. If you're registered for Self Assessment and you also work as a sole trader, or you have rental income, that income is checked against the thresholds: 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. GOV.UK counts it before expenses.

Your salary and dividends from the company are not self-employment or property income, so they don't count towards those thresholds.

If you've gone limited and your subbies haven't

If the subbies you pay are sole traders, they are exactly who Making Tax Digital for Income Tax is for. A subbie whose sole trader and property income for 2025 to 2026 came to more than £30,000 before expenses, from you and every other job together, is in from 6 April 2027 if they're registered for Self Assessment. The CIS you deducted is an advance payment towards their tax and National Insurance, not a cost that shrinks their figure. The trade pages below say how it lands for each trade, if you want to send one on.

Running the company's money

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Questions directors ask

I'm a director and I still do some work as a sole trader. Which rules am I in?

Both, for different things. The company is in Making Tax Digital for VAT if it's VAT registered. You personally are in Making Tax Digital for Income Tax if you're registered for Self Assessment and your sole trader and property income together, counted before expenses, is over the threshold for the year HMRC checks.

When will Making Tax Digital for Corporation Tax start?

On what GOV.UK says today, it won't. HMRC consulted on it from November 2020 to March 2021, and its Transformation Roadmap, published 21 July 2025, says HMRC does not intend to introduce Making Tax Digital for Corporation Tax. If that changes, GOV.UK will say so first.

My company isn't VAT registered. Is there any Making Tax Digital for it at all?

Not today. Making Tax Digital for VAT only reaches VAT-registered businesses, Making Tax Digital for Income Tax is for sole traders and landlords, and HMRC has said it does not intend to introduce Making Tax Digital for Corporation Tax. Keep good records anyway. The company still needs them for its accounts and its Corporation Tax.

Does my salary from the company count towards the £30,000?

No. GOV.UK's qualifying income is self-employment and property income before expenses. Salary and dividends from your own company are neither, so they don't count. Rental income from a flat you own personally does.

Does InstaQuote file anything with HMRC for my company?

No. InstaQuote does the quotes, the invoices, the CIS deduction and the monthly CIS300 lines on what you pay subbies, and the records behind them. It isn't HMRC filing software itself. ANNA, our partner, offers limited companies a business account with Auto Accounting, 4 months free then a monthly fee. Filing stays with your accountant or whoever does your company's returns.

Checked against GOV.UK

Sole trader after all? Check your date in three taps

Built on the tools, not in a boardroom

Tom, plaster still on his top, shaking a customer's hand in front of his van

I'm Tom. Ten years in the trade, and every quote done sat in the van on the drive. If that's you, keep reading.

Tom · Founder · InstaQuote Ltd

I started in the trade at 17. Ten years in, the work was fine. It was everything after the work.

Every night I'd pull up at home and sit in the van on the drive, because the quotes and the invoices and the chasing had to be done before I went in. Every night. And the better the quotes were, the more people rang, so it never got smaller. I was starting to hate a trade I'd loved since I was 17.

If you've ever sat outside your own house doing paperwork, you know.

I tried every system going. Every one made a quote, then left me in the van doing the rest.

So I came off the tools and spent 18 months building the thing that didn't exist. Every step I used to do on that drive, built in so it happens without you. The quote prices itself from your rates. The deposit books the job. The invoice goes when you tap Job done. The late payer gets chased. VAT and CIS worked out.

Two things we found in no other trade app we checked: the deposit on your quote books the job and the customer moves the date themselves, and your bank statement gets matched with the tax to put aside shown.

It's new. Price a real job on it, 7 days free. If it's not quicker than what you do now, bin it and tell me why.

What I want is simple: you out of the van and in the house, paid properly and on time, and back in love with the trade you picked.

Want your prices set up with you? Reply to the welcome email and I'll ring you.

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