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Making Tax Digital · Pest Control Firms

Making Tax Digital for pest control firms: 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 pest control firms

A self-employed pest controller on domestic call-outs and a few commercial contracts is over £30,000 of turnover on steady work, with the contracts paying every month whether the phone rings or not. 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 pest control firms' numbers

A pest controller took £32,400 in 2025 to 2026: wasps, rodents, a bedbug run and six commercial contracts paid monthly. £6,900 went on bait, traps, PPE, licences, insurance and the van. HMRC's figure is £32,400, so 6 April 2027.

Invoiced, before expenses
£32,400
Materials, costs, subbies
£6,900
HMRC's figure
£32,400

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).

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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 pest control firms: it doesn't apply

Pest control isn't construction work, and GOV.UK puts work on a site that's clearly not construction outside CIS, so a pest controller's invoices normally have nothing taken off. What matters for Making Tax Digital is the total of every treatment and every contract in the year.

The records pest control firms lose

  • Monthly contract payments from six businesses, each a separate income line twelve times a year.
  • Bait and traps bought from the supplier quarterly, one invoice for a season's work.
  • A summer of wasp nests at £65 cash each, never written down.

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 pest control firms ask

Commercial contracts paid monthly. How do they fit the quarterly update?

Record each monthly payment the day it arrives. The update carries the total for the year so far, so twelve payments a year just add up as they land.

Do licences and insurance count as expenses?

Yes. They go into your expense totals in the right category. Record them when paid; the update only needs category totals.

A builder asked me to treat a site before handover. Is that CIS?

No. Pest control is work on a site that's clearly not construction, which GOV.UK puts outside the scheme. The job is normal self-employment income, no deduction.

I'm just over £30,000. When's my first update and what's in it?

If you're in from April 2027, the first update is due by 7 August 2027 for 6 April to 5 July. GOV.UK says it carries totals for each income and expense category, treatments and contracts as income, bait and the van as expenses, not the individual receipts.

Does Making Tax Digital change what I pay?

No. It changes reporting: digital records, quarterly updates of totals through software, and the return by 31 January as now. Your tax still comes from your profit on the return.

Can I be exempt as a one-man band?

Size doesn't matter; GOV.UK's exemption is for people who are digitally excluded, applied for by phone or letter with the reason. If granted you still do a Self Assessment return. £20,000 or under is automatically exempt on the dates set so far.

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.

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