How do I submit a quarterly update to HMRC as a landscaper?

Your software sends HMRC turnover and cost totals for the year so far: CIS hard landscaping gross, garden rounds and cash jobs in full. If you start in April 2027, your first update is due by 7 August 2027.

Making Tax Digital for Income Tax (MTD) asks for totals each quarter, not receipts. A landscaper's quarter often mixes homeowner gardens, some paid in cash, with patios and drives for builders under the Construction Industry Scheme (CIS), all in one update. Checked against GOV.UK and HMRC's CIS manual on 18 October 2026; the general guide covers everyone.

Who sends them, and when

You join when your self-employment and property income before expenses goes over the line: over £50,000 in 2024-25 meant 6 April 2026, over £30,000 in 2025-26 means 6 April 2027, and over £20,000 in 2026-27 means 6 April 2028. The sign-up guide for landscapers shows how to add up your jobs.

If your accounts run from 1 April to 31 March, GOV.UK says to use calendar periods ending 30 June, 30 September, 31 December and 31 March, with the same deadlines; choose them in your software before your first update.

Garden rounds, homeowners and cash

CIS 340 says householders having work done on their own premises are not contractors, so a homeowner pays you in full, whatever you build. Record cash in full. GOV.UK says some transactions may not appear in full in a bank feed and must be added separately, and unbanked cash never does.

Jobs for builders: in CIS or not

CIS changes how you are paid, not whether a job goes in the update. The law behind CIS lists landscaping among operations that prepare for or finish construction work, and the landscaping CIS guide sorts more jobs:

• In CIS: walls, drives and patios, which HMRC's manual says are caught even as routine landscaping; turfing and planting in a wider construction project; fences on such a project, or isolated ones with posts in concrete; felling trees to clear a site.
• Out on their own: routine gardening, mowing and tree surgery not part of a wider construction project, and light fences with posts driven into the ground.
• Mixed contracts: CIS 340 says one item of CIS work brings every payment under that contract in. A builder working for a homeowner still runs the scheme on CIS work it pays you for.

HMRC's notes say a subcontractor's turnover is the full amount before CIS deductions. MTD uses the same categories as Self Assessment, so in our reading the gross figure on each monthly payment and deduction statement goes in, not what your bank shows.

Plants, aggregates, diggers and kit

Contractors do not take the deduction from the direct cost of materials, which HMRC's manual says is what you can show you paid. CIS 340 adds that plant you hire from a third party, such as a mini digger, and its fuel can be treated as materials; plant you own cannot, though its fuel can.

In our reading, everything you charge for is turnover. Plants, turf, slabs and aggregate for jobs go in "cost of goods bought for resale or goods used", which HMRC's notes say includes raw materials. On the cash basis, HMRC's HS222 puts equipment and tools, such as mowers and strimmers, in "repairs and maintenance of property and equipment"; under traditional accounting they go through capital allowances. As the notes do not name equipment hire, in our reading digger hire and tip fees go in "other business expenses". Van fuel, insurance and servicing go in "car, van, and travel expenses", business share only. The landscaper expenses guide lists more.

With turnover from the trade under £90,000, GOV.UK lets you record each item as just income or an expense. Reach £90,000, and every record for the year must be fully categorised before your next update.

What stays out of the update

HMRC's quarterly update direction lists the totals an update holds, and CIS deductions are not among them. HMRC adds your CIS deductions to your MTD tax return, and any refund is requested separately through HMRC online services, as the CIS refund guide for landscapers explains.

A worked example

A landscaper starts MTD on 6 April 2027. By 5 July 2027 a developer has paid for patios and drives on a new estate: £6,000 labour, £2,400 for slabs and aggregate they bought, at cost, and £600 for a mini digger hired from a hire firm, charged at cost. Treating the hire as materials, the developer takes 20% from the £6,000 labour, £1,200. Homeowners pay £7,500 for garden rounds and planting, £1,200 of it in cash. Plants, turf and compost cost £900, a strimmer and hedge trimmer £480, tip fees £260 and the van £650.

Their bank received £14,100 and cash £1,200, but turnover is £16,500. Under £90,000, they could send one expenses total of £5,290 instead.

What this means for you

A mistake is fixed in your records and carried by the next update. If you must use MTD, a late update can earn a point from 2027-28 (joined April 2026) or 2028-29 (joining April 2027, per the 28 October 2026 Budget); 4 points bring a £200 penalty. Compare MTD software for landscapers.

Steps to send your update as a landscaper

1. Add every cash job from your diary.
2. Collect builders' and developers' statements for deductions taken, and chase any missing.
3. Check each contractor job, and its whole contract, against the CIS lines.
4. Record homeowner jobs in full, and CIS payments gross with the deduction noted.
5. Record merchant, hire and tip receipts, kit and van costs.
6. Check turnover against your invoices and statements, not your bank.
7. Send the update by the deadline, even after a quarter with no work.
8. After the fourth update, check the CIS deductions HMRC adds to your tax return, then submit by 31 January.

The free MTD check shows when you start, and the trades section has more guides on CIS and MTD.