Making Tax Digital · Plasterers
Making Tax Digital for plasterers: 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 plasterers
A self-employed plasterer skimming two or three rooms a week passes £30,000 of turnover without noticing, because turnover counts the multi and the beads as well as the labour. If the 2025 to 2026 tax year came to more than that, you're in 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 plasterers' numbers
A plasterer took £41,000 in 2025 to 2026, about half of it for two builders who deducted £3,800 of CIS between them. £9,500 went on plaster, beads, scrim and the van. The bank shows £37,200 coming in. HMRC's figure is £41,000, so 6 April 2027.
- Invoiced, before expenses
- £41,000
- Materials, costs, subbies
- £9,500
- CIS taken off by contractors
- £3,800
- What reached the bank
- £37,200
- HMRC's figure
- £41,000
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 plasterers
Plastering is alterations and repairs to a building, so when a builder or a drylining contractor pays you, they deduct 20% from the labour part of your invoice. Homeowners don't deduct anything. The Making Tax Digital figure is your turnover before that 20% came off.
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 plasterers lose
- Bags of multi and finish bought with cash at the merchant on the way to the job.
- The builder's CIS statements, which prove the tax already paid on your behalf.
- Fuel between jobs, paid on a personal card because the business one was in the other van.
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 plasterers ask
The builder takes 20% before paying me. Is my turnover what I get, or what I invoiced?
What you invoiced. GOV.UK counts qualifying income before expenses, and the 20% is tax paid in advance on your behalf, not an expense. A plasterer paid £30,400 for labour-only work has invoiced £38,000, which is over the £30,000 line.
I only work for one builder. Am I still a sole trader for this?
If you invoice them and do your own Self Assessment, yes, and the money from them is self-employment income. If they put you on the payroll, that's PAYE wages, which don't count towards the threshold at all.
Does the price per metre I charge matter to any of this?
No. HMRC only sees totals: your income and expense categories added up for the year so far. Your rates stay yours. What matters is that every job and every bag of plaster is recorded somewhere, so the totals are right.
I'm a plasterer with a PAYE job three days a week and skimming at weekends. Does MTD apply?
Only your plastering counts. GOV.UK's qualifying income is self-employment and property income before expenses; PAYE wages are left out. If the weekend work came to more than £30,000 in 2025 to 2026, you're in from 6 April 2027. Under that, not from April 2027; over £20,000 in 2026 to 2027 brings 6 April 2028.
Can I carry on with the diary in the van?
Not as your record. GOV.UK says a digital record is created and stored in software that works with Making Tax Digital, with the amount, the date and the category of each income and expense. Keep the diary if you like it, but each job has to be typed in somewhere, and the app does that when you quote and invoice.
Is there free MTD software for a plasterer?
Some. GOV.UK's software page says free products exist for people with simple tax affairs, and warns some cap the number of transactions, which a plasterer on three jobs a week can hit. 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
- 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)
