Making Tax Digital · Waste & Clearance Firms
Making Tax Digital for waste and clearance 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 waste and clearance firms
A self-employed clearance firm charging by the load, with tipping fees in every price, is over £30,000 of turnover on steady work. Over £30,000 for 2025 to 2026 means Making Tax Digital from 6 April 2027, and the tipping and the licence are expenses, but they don't reduce the turnover HMRC checks.
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 waste and clearance firms' numbers
A clearance firm took £44,000 in 2025 to 2026: house clearances, garden waste, two shop strip-outs and a site clearance for a builder with £600 of CIS taken off. £19,500 went on tipping fees, the waste carrier licence, fuel, insurance and a second pair of hands. HMRC's figure is £44,000, so 6 April 2027.
- Invoiced, before expenses
- £44,000
- Materials, costs, subbies
- £19,500
- CIS taken off by contractors
- £600
- What reached the bank
- £43,400
- HMRC's figure
- £44,000
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 waste and clearance firms
Clearing a house, a garden or a shop isn't construction work, so no deduction. Site clearance and strip-out before building work is preparing the site, which is on GOV.UK's construction list, so a builder paying you for that can deduct 20% from the labour. GOV.UK puts delivering materials outside CIS. For Making Tax Digital every load counts in full.
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 waste and clearance firms lose
- Tipping fees paid at the gate by card, three or four times a day, no receipts kept.
- Loads paid in cash at the door and spent on diesel by the afternoon.
- The helper paid by the day, which is an expense that needs a record of its own.
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 waste and clearance firms ask
Tipping fees are a third of my takings. Do they come off the £30,000?
No. Turnover is counted before expenses, so a £240 load with £80 of tipping inside it is £240 of turnover. The tipping goes into your expense totals, which the quarterly update carries.
A builder paid me to strip out before a refurb and took 20% off. Is that right?
Preparing the site and demolition are on GOV.UK's list of construction work, so a contractor can deduct for a strip-out. The deduction counts towards your tax, and your turnover is the gross amount.
I sell on some of what I clear. Is that income?
Yes. Money from selling items you cleared is income from your self-employment, and it adds to the turnover HMRC checks. Record each sale as it happens.
Four tipping receipts a day. Do they all go to HMRC?
No. GOV.UK says the quarterly update sends totals for each expense category, and HMRC doesn't receive the receipts. Each tip is a record with amount, date and category; you keep the receipt or a copy.
I'm a clearance man with a PAYE job driving at nights. Does the driving count?
No. GOV.UK leaves PAYE wages out of qualifying income. Only your self-employed clearance work, before expenses, counts towards the £30,000 for 2025 to 2026.
What's the penalty for a late quarterly update?
From 2027 to 2028, one penalty point per late update, £200 at four and £200 for each further late one. A point expires 24 months after it's given; at four, they clear only once you've filed on time for 12 months and sent anything outstanding from the previous 24. The totals come from loads and tips already recorded, so the update is minutes.
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)
