How do I sign up for Making Tax Digital for Income Tax as a decorator?

Sign up on GOV.UK with your Self Assessment sign-in. If your decorating turnover before CIS deductions was over £30,000 in 2025-26, you start on 6 April 2027, unless it was over £50,000 in 2024-25: then you should already have started.

Making Tax Digital for Income Tax (MTD) works the same for a self-employed painter and decorator as for any sole trader. What trips decorators up is the turnover figure: most work is for homeowners, with some for landlords and some under CIS for builders. This page follows GOV.UK's sign-up, MTD and CIS guidance, checked on 17 October 2026. The general sign-up guide covers the service for everyone.

Do you need to sign up, and for which year

HMRC tests your qualifying income: all your self-employment and property income before expenses, also called turnover, but not your share of a partnership's profit.

HMRC writes to people over the line, but GOV.UK says checking is still your responsibility.

Adding up a decorator's turnover

The law behind CIS lists painting or decorating the internal or external surfaces of any building or structure as a construction operation, and HMRC's CIS 340 guide says the same. Whether anything is deducted depends on who pays you. Ordinary householders having work done on their own home are not contractors, so most decorating has nothing deducted. Decorating a home for a builder who is working for the homeowner is CIS work. The homeowner CIS guide explains. For MTD, all of it counts.

VAT registered? If you leave VAT out of your income, as the cash basis allows, count invoices before VAT.

A landlord whose business is letting, not construction or development, only becomes a CIS contractor once its construction spending goes over £3 million in 12 months. CIS 340 says a managing agent acting for a landlord is not generally one, unless it books you itself under a maintenance contract.

Take a decorator with no other income, under £50,000 in 2024-25. In 2025-26, homeowners paid £14,000 and landlords and a letting agent £3,000. A builder's monthly statements show £14,500 gross, of which £2,500 was paint and materials the decorator supplied. The 20% deduction came off the other £12,000, so £2,400 was taken and £12,100 reached the bank. Bank receipts total £29,100, under £30,000. But qualifying income is £14,000 + £3,000 + £14,500 = £31,500, so MTD starts on 6 April 2027. The turnover guide explains why the gross figure is used.

What the sign-up asks

You must be registered for Self Assessment and have sent a tax return in the last 2 years. GOV.UK then lists your business name (the name on your invoices), address and trade, your start date if you began in the last 2 tax years, the tax year you will start, and every self-employment and property source, including any that has stopped since your last tax return.

GOV.UK treats different trades as separate businesses. In our reading, CIS and private decorating are one trade, so one business.

You sign in with the user ID and password you got when you registered for Self Assessment. You may be asked to prove your identity with a phone app and your passport or driving licence. On 13 October 2026 GOV.UK removed the option to do this by answering questions.

What does not change your sign-up

• Paint on CIS jobs. The contractor takes the cost of materials you supply off before working out the deduction. CIS 340's own worked example is a painter. Your gross pay still counts in full.
• Taking on another decorator. Paying a subcontractor for decorating may mean registering as a CIS contractor too, as the contractor guide explains. That is separate from MTD.
• A limited company. This page is for sole traders. A company's income is not self-employment income.

What an agent can do

A bookkeeper or managed service with an HMRC agent services account can sign you up once you have authorised them. They need your full name, date of birth and National Insurance number, plus your business details. Only the main agent can submit your tax return. The agent guide shows how to accept a request.

What this means for you

If your turnover, plus any rent, was over £30,000 in 2025-26 but not over £50,000 in 2024-25, you start on 6 April 2027. Your first quarterly update is due by 7 August 2027. You can sign up now, for the current or next tax year.

GOV.UK says HMRC will not give penalty points for late quarterly updates in 2026-27. The 28 October 2026 Budget said April 2027 joiners get none for 2027-28 updates either, though updates must still be sent, so the earliest possible point is 7 August 2028. After that, each missed deadline earns a point (not while volunteering), and 4 points brings a £200 penalty. HMRC adds your CIS deductions to your tax return, and any refund is requested separately through HMRC online services. If you were under £30,000, check 2026-27: over £20,000 means 6 April 2028.

Steps to sign up as a decorator

1. Add up your 2025-26 income: homeowner, landlord and letting agent jobs before any VAT you leave out, gross figures from your CIS statements, and any rent. The free MTD check shows your start date.
2. Check you are registered for Self Assessment and have filed a return in the last 2 years.
3. Choose MTD software that keeps CIS and non-CIS income apart, or someone to do it.
4. Have your business name, address, trade and any recent start date to hand.
5. Sign in to the GOV.UK sign-up service, add every business and property, and pick your start year.
6. Complete any identity check, or authorise your agent and let them sign you up.
7. Keep every monthly CIS statement and materials receipt to check the deductions HMRC adds to your tax return.

The trades section has more guides for decorators.