Skip to content
InstaQuote

Making Tax Digital · Locksmiths

Making Tax Digital for locksmiths: 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 locksmiths

A self-employed locksmith lives on call-outs and lock changes, dozens a month, many paid in cash at the door, and that's exactly the trade that finds it's over £30,000 of turnover without a single big job. 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.

A worked year, in locksmiths' numbers

A locksmith took £35,500 in 2025 to 2026 from emergency call-outs, lock changes, a few shop fronts and uPVC mechanism repairs. £7,800 went on cylinders, mechanisms, tools, insurance and fuel. HMRC's figure is £35,500, so 6 April 2027.

Invoiced, before expenses
£35,500
Materials, costs, subbies
£7,800
HMRC's figure
£35,500

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).

Check your own date, three taps

Need it? Sort it in two minutes.

Open my free account

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 locksmiths: it doesn't apply

Fitting and opening locks isn't named on GOV.UK's list of construction work, and homeowners, landlords and shops aren't contractors, so a locksmith's invoices normally have nothing taken off. The only thing that matters for Making Tax Digital is the total of every job in the year, call-outs included.

The records locksmiths lose

  • Call-outs at 2am paid in cash, written on nothing.
  • Cylinders and mechanisms bought in bulk online, used one at a time over months.
  • Mileage, the biggest cost in a call-out trade, never logged.

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 locksmiths ask

Cash call-outs at night. Does HMRC really count those?

Every payment for your work is self-employment income, and HMRC's qualifying income is the total before expenses. A locksmith with £700 a week in call-outs is over £30,000 on those alone.

Do I ever get CIS deducted?

Fitting locks isn't on GOV.UK's list of construction work, so a locksmith's invoices aren't deducted. If a builder ever does deduct, they must give you a statement and the deduction counts towards your tax.

I buy cylinders in bulk. When are they an expense?

Record the purchase on the day you pay, with the date, and it goes into your expense totals. The update needs category totals, not a match of each cylinder to each door; your accountant confirms the year-end treatment of stock.

Do I have to list every 2am call-out for HMRC?

Every call-out is a record with amount, date and category, yes. But GOV.UK says the quarterly update sends category totals, not the list, and HMRC doesn't receive the individual records. A tap after each job keeps it honest without a weekend of typing.

How do I sign up for Making Tax Digital?

You sign up on GOV.UK, or an agent does it for you. You need to 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. Do it before 6 April 2027 if you're in.

Is there a free way to do Making Tax Digital as a locksmith?

A free way exists for simple tax affairs, GOV.UK says, and some free products cap transactions, which dozens of call-outs a month will test. Through InstaQuote, ANNA's business account gives sole traders MTD for Self Assessment free for the first year; InstaQuote is 7 days free then from £47 a month.

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

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.

  • InstaQuote Ltd
  • Co. No. 17224118
  • Registered in England & Wales
  • ICO ZC153382
  • Payments on Stripe, we never see a card number
  • Data never sold
  • VAT, CIS & reverse charge the HMRC way

Our word

No catches.

  • 7 days genuinely free.

    Your 7 free days start when you do. At the end of the free week you pick a plan, or the account pauses with nothing deleted. No InstaQuote charge during the trial.

  • No sales call to see the price.

    Every plan is published in pounds on the pricing page.

  • No minimum term. Cancel when you want.

    Cancel from Settings in a couple of taps. No notice period, no phone call, no form.

  • Take your data with you.

    Export your customers, quotes, invoices, photos and receipts in one file, on any plan, even after you've cancelled.

  • No InstaQuote fee on your card payments.

    Take a deposit or an invoice by card and InstaQuote adds nothing. Stripe's own card rate still applies, the same as anywhere.

  • Not quicker than what you do now? Cancel.

    Price a real job on it in your free week. If it isn't quicker, cancel in a couple of taps and tell us why, so we fix it.

Get your
Sunday nights back.

Price a real job on it. Build the quote from your rates, send it, and watch the deposit, the booking and the chaser run themselves. If it isn't quicker than what you do now, cancel in a couple of taps and tell us why.

Start 7 days free

£0 to InstaQuote during the trial. Then from £47/month only if you choose to continue.