Do I need Making Tax Digital if I have a job and self-employed income?

Only if your self-employed turnover, plus any rent, is over the threshold before expenses. Your wages are ignored. Over £30,000 in the 2025-26 tax year means Making Tax Digital from 6 April 2027.

Plenty of tradespeople do both: a maintenance electrician on the payroll who rewires at weekends, or a site supervisor who still takes plastering jobs. Making Tax Digital for Income Tax (MTD) looks only at the self-employed side. GOV.UK's qualifying income guidance, checked on 16 October 2026, lists employment (PAYE) pay as income that does not count. If you also let a property, the guide for employed landlords covers the rent.

What HMRC adds up

Your qualifying income is your self-employment and property income added together, before expenses. GOV.UK also calls this turnover. HMRC takes it from the Self Assessment return you sent for the previous tax year. The law is in regulations 25 to 27 of the Income Tax (Digital Obligations) Regulations 2026, which set the lines at £50,000 for 2024-25, £30,000 for 2025-26 and £20,000 for 2026-27 onwards.

Everything else is left out: wages, State and private pensions, dividends and an individual partner's share of partnership profit.

Four tradespeople with day jobs

The joiner's profit is £19,000, but profit is not the test. Materials, van costs and tools reduce your tax bill, not your qualifying income.

The plumber traded for half the year. GOV.UK says HMRC scales a sole trader's turnover up to 12 months where it has the information, and its own example of 6 months' trading is doubled. So £16,000 counts as £32,000, over the £30,000 line.

For CIS work, use your pay before deductions. GOV.UK tells subcontractors to record total pay before deductions as income, so if a contractor paid you £25,600 after taking the standard 20% from £32,000 of labour, your turnover is £32,000.

Your job still shows up, just not in the test

Quarterly updates cover only your self-employed (and any property) income and costs. Your employer carries on reporting your pay through PAYE. After each update, HMRC shows a tax estimate in your software and online account, and GOV.UK says it adds your PAYE employment income to that estimate itself.

At the end of the year, your tax return covers everything, wages included. If your software cannot hold your other income during the year, you add it before you submit the return.

Your wages also affect how much tax the side work costs. Outside Scotland, the 2026-27 basic rate of 20% runs to £50,270 and the higher rate of 40% starts above it. Your profit is added to your pay, so the site supervisor on £42,000 has £8,270 of basic rate band left before profit is taxed at 40%. Class 4 National Insurance is worked out on your self-employed profit alone: 6% on profit over £12,570 up to £50,270. The guide to being employed and a CIS subcontractor goes through the tax code side.

What this means for you

If your side work is modest, MTD may not apply at all. A return is still needed if you were self-employed and earned more than £1,000 before expenses, but it stays an ordinary Self Assessment return while your turnover is under the threshold.

If your 2025-26 self-employed turnover and any rent came to more than £30,000, you start on 6 April 2027 however much your job pays. You keep digital records for the trade only, and your first quarterly update is due by 7 August 2027. If you were between £20,000 and £30,000, watch your 2026-27 figures, because they decide April 2028. If your 2024-25 turnover and rent were already over £50,000, MTD has applied since 6 April 2026, and you can still sign up now.

Steps to check if MTD applies to you

1. Find your 2025-26 self-employed turnover: everything customers and contractors paid you, before materials, van, tools or any CIS deduction.
2. If you started partway through the year, scale it to 12 months, as HMRC does. Six months' turnover is doubled.
3. Add any rent, before expenses, using only your share of anything jointly owned. Leave out wages, pensions and dividends.
4. Compare the total with £30,000 for April 2027, then check 2026-27 against £20,000 for April 2028.
5. If you are over, check you are registered for Self Assessment and have sent a return in the last 2 years, which you need before you can sign up.
6. Run the free MTD check to confirm your date, and see the trades section for what comes next.