Who can do my Making Tax Digital quarterly updates for me as a decorator?

You, or an agent you authorise through HMRC: an accountant, a bookkeeper or a managed service. Pick one that handles homeowner cash jobs and builder CIS work. For 2027 joiners, the first update is due 7 August 2027.

Making Tax Digital for Income Tax (MTD) asks for four quarterly updates a year, sent from compatible software, then a tax return. Many decorators paint homes for homeowners, often for cash, and also work for builders under the Construction Industry Scheme (CIS). Whoever sends your updates has to handle both. This page follows GOV.UK, HMRC's manuals and the law as checked on 18 October 2026.

Your options as a decorator

You can have one main agent at a time and any number of supporting agents.

Cash jobs and builder jobs

CIS 340 says private householders are not contractors, so a homeowner having their own home decorated pays you in full, with nothing taken off.

Builder work is different. The law behind CIS lists painting or decorating the internal or external surfaces of any building or structure as a construction operation, and CIS 340 says the same. So decorating for a builder, developer or main contractor is CIS work, and CIS 340 says a contractor working for a private householder must still operate the scheme on what it pays you.

In our reading, all of it goes into the income in your quarterly updates, with CIS pay counted before deductions. GOV.UK says your income is your pay before deductions, and the deductions are advance payments towards your tax. They are not part of the update. HMRC adds them to your MTD tax return.

What a decorator's agent needs from you

• A diary of cash jobs, with the date, amount and customer. GOV.UK says some transactions may not appear in full in a bank feed and must be created separately. Cash you keep never appears, and banked cash shows only as a lump sum.
• Monthly CIS statements from each builder that takes a deduction, due within 14 days of the end of the tax month. HMRC's manual says a contractor taking no deduction does not have to give one, so if you are paid gross, keep your invoices instead.
• Paint, paper and filler receipts. Contractors do not take the deduction from materials you paid for directly, so receipts protect your pay.
• A note of customer-supplied materials. In our reading, paint or paper a customer bought is not your cost or your income.
• Van and kit costs, such as brushes, rollers, ladders and dust sheets.
• Your 2024-25 and 2025-26 figures, to confirm your start date.

If your turnover is under £90,000, each item only needs to be marked as income or expense.

What any agent must have

• An HMRC agent services account. An agent needs one to sign clients up for MTD. HMRC now requires most people paid to deal with it about someone else's tax to register through this account, and is bringing the rule in by stages.
• Approved money-laundering supervision, by HMRC or another supervisory body, before it applies for that account.
• Your authorisation, not your password. A new agent sends a link and you accept it with your own HMRC sign-in within 21 days. HMRC may ask you to verify your identity first.

What this means for you

MTD started on 6 April 2026 if your qualifying income was over £50,000 in 2024-25. Otherwise it starts on 6 April 2027 if your 2025-26 qualifying income was over £30,000, or on 6 April 2028 if it was over £20,000 in 2026-27. Qualifying income is self-employed and property income before expenses, and in our reading, for CIS work that means before deductions.

If you start in April 2027, your first update covers 6 April to 5 July 2027 (1 April to 30 June on calendar periods) and is due by 7 August 2027. If you must use MTD, a late tax return earns a penalty point from your first MTD year, and a late update from 2027-28, or from 2028-29 if you join in April 2027, as the 28 October 2026 Budget said; 4 points brings a £200 penalty.

HMRC adds your CIS deductions to your MTD tax return, and any refund is requested separately through HMRC online services, so agree whether you or your main agent requests it, as GOV.UK says a supporting agent cannot. Whoever you choose, you stay responsible for your tax.

If you would rather hand it over, our Trades Tax plan is £35 a month including VAT. Our tax plans start once our HMRC registrations are complete. Until then you can join the waitlist, and no payment is taken. Then your bank feed becomes your quarterly updates, your CIS deductions are tracked all year, and you sign off every figure. The founding offer for the first 500 trades clients is £5 a month for your first 3 months, then £35 a month. Cancel any time. We'll remind you before it changes.

Steps to hand over your updates

1. Use the free MTD check to confirm your start date, counting homeowner and builder work together.
2. Sort a year of jobs by who paid you: homeowners, cash included, or builders under CIS.
3. Ask any agent whether it sends quarterly updates and covers both kinds of work.
4. Check it has an HMRC agent services account and money-laundering supervision.
5. Agree whether it will be your main agent, which includes the tax return and any CIS refund request.
6. Get the fee in writing, including VAT.
7. Accept the authorisation link through HMRC, and pass on cash records and each CIS statement as they arrive.

The quarterly update guide for decorators shows what goes in, and the CIS refund guide covers claiming back deductions. There are more guides in the trades section.