Making Tax Digital · Tilers
Making Tax Digital for tilers: 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 tilers
A self-employed tiler on day rate for bathroom fitters is usually paid through CIS, so the bank shows 80% of the real figure. Add the homeowner jobs where you supplied the adhesive and grout, and most tilers are over £30,000 of turnover for 2025 to 2026, which means 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 tilers' numbers
A tiler invoiced £34,500 in 2025 to 2026, most of it to a bathroom company that deducted £5,000 in CIS, plus a few homeowner bathrooms. Costs were £5,200: adhesive, grout, trims, blades and fuel. £29,500 reached the bank, which looks under £30,000. HMRC's figure is £34,500, so 6 April 2027.
- Invoiced, before expenses
- £34,500
- Materials, costs, subbies
- £5,200
- CIS taken off by contractors
- £5,000
- What reached the bank
- £29,500
- HMRC's figure
- £34,500
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).
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 tilers
Tiling is building work and alterations on GOV.UK's list, so a bathroom company or a builder paying you deducts 20% from the labour. Homeowners paying you direct for a kitchen splashback or a bathroom don't. Your Making Tax Digital figure is the full invoiced amount, deducted or not.
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 tilers lose
- Day rate work with the bathroom firm, paid fortnightly on a statement you never kept.
- Adhesive and grout picked up from the tile shop with the customer's tiles and paid on your card.
- The firm's deduction statements, which are the proof of £5,000 of tax already paid.
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 tilers ask
My bank total is under £30,000 but my invoices aren't. Which one counts?
The invoices. Qualifying income is turnover before expenses, and the CIS taken off is tax paid in advance, not a cost. A tiler who banked £29,500 after £5,000 of deductions invoiced £34,500 and is over the line.
Does the customer's tile money count if they pay the shop directly?
No. Money that never passed through you isn't your income. If you supplied the tiles and charged for them, the whole amount is turnover and the tiles are an expense.
I'm paid day rate. Do I still need to invoice?
You need a sales record for every payment, whether that's your invoice or the firm's self-billed statement. Log each one as income the day it arrives, gross with the CIS shown, and the quarterly totals are right.
Can I just keep using my spreadsheet for Making Tax Digital?
GOV.UK says a digital record is created and stored in software that works with Making Tax Digital, and that if you use more than one product the records must be digitally linked, never copied across by hand. A spreadsheet on its own isn't the finished record; your figures have to reach MTD software without being retyped.
When would my first update be due if I start in April 2027?
7 August 2027, covering 6 April to 5 July. Then 7 November, 7 February and 7 May. Each one is the year so far in category totals, so the bathroom firm's statements and your homeowner invoices just need recording as they land.
I'm digitally hopeless. Is there an exemption?
GOV.UK says people who are digitally excluded can apply by phone or by letter, saying why software isn't possible for them. If it's granted you still send a Self Assessment tax return as now. It's for genuine cases, not for anyone who'd rather not.
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)
