How do I sign up for Making Tax Digital for Income Tax as an electrician?

Add electrical turnover before CIS deductions to other self-employed or rental income. Over £30,000 in 2025-26? Sign up on GOV.UK with your Self Assessment sign-in to start on 6 April 2027, or now if over £50,000 in 2024-25.

Making Tax Digital for Income Tax (MTD) works the same for a self-employed electrician as for any sole trader. The turnover figure trips electricians up, because most mix CIS work for contractors with jobs paid in full by homeowners and businesses. 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.

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

Adding up an electrician's turnover

Installing systems of lighting and power supply in a building is construction under the law, so a rewire paid for by a builder is usually CIS work. HMRC's CIS 340 guide says a homeowner paying you direct is not a contractor. A shop or office outside construction is one only after spending over £3 million on construction in 12 months, and even then work on premises it uses itself is exempt. Work on property it lets out or invests in is caught. The CIS guide for electricians sorts jobs into in and out. For MTD, all of it counts.

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

Take an electrician with no other income, under £50,000 in 2024-25. In 2025-26, homeowners paid £14,000. A builder's monthly statements show £18,000 gross, of which £6,000 was materials. The 20% deduction came off the other £12,000, so £2,400 was taken and £15,600 reached the bank. Bank receipts total £29,600, under £30,000. But qualifying income is £14,000 + £18,000 = £32,000, so MTD starts on 6 April 2027.

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, your business address, your 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 domestic electrical work are one trade, so one business. If you also run something different, such as a handyman round, add it separately.

You may be asked to prove your identity with a phone app and your passport or driving licence. Since 13 October 2026, answering questions instead is no longer offered.

What does not change your sign-up

• NICEIC or NAPIT. Both are competent person schemes for electrical installations. Scheme fees are a business expense, as the electrician expenses guide explains, and play no part in signing up.
• VAT. Registering for VAT is separate. You must register once taxable turnover goes over £90,000 in 12 months, or you expect it to in the next 30 days alone. Being VAT-registered does not sign you up for MTD for Income Tax.
• A limited company. A company's income is not self-employment income.

What an agent can do

An agent 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. Both can send quarterly updates, but 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, for 6 April to 5 July 2027, is due by 7 August 2027. GOV.UK lets you sign up for the current or the next tax year. Volunteers for the current year send any updates already missed and agree that the new penalties apply, and HMRC confirms when they start.

GOV.UK says there are no penalties 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 if you must use MTD, not while volunteering, and 4 points brings a £200 penalty. Once you are in MTD, HMRC adds your CIS deductions to your tax return for you to check, 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 an electrician

1. Add up your 2025-26 income: gross figures from your CIS statements, homeowner and business jobs in full, and any rent. If you started trading or letting part-way through the year, scale that up to 12 months: HMRC doubles 6 months' trading, and you must scale rent yourself. Put the full-year figure into the free MTD check.
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 for you.
4. Have your business name, address, trade and any recent start date to hand.
5. Sign in to the GOV.UK sign-up service with your Self Assessment user ID and password, 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, ready to check the deductions HMRC adds to your tax return.

The trades section has more CIS and MTD guides.