Does Making Tax Digital apply to me?

Making Tax Digital for Income Tax replaces the once-a-year Self Assessment scramble with quarterly updates filed from software. From 6 April 2026 it is mandatory for sole traders and landlords with qualifying income over £50,000 — that captures a large share of subcontracting electricians, plumbers, gas engineers, and builders, because the test is turnover, not profit. The net widens to £30,000 in April 2027 and £20,000 in April 2028.

In scope, you keep digital records of business income and expenses and send four quarterly updates a year (7 August, 7 November, 7 February, 7 May), then a final declaration by 31 January. Paper records and retyping a year of invoices into a spreadsheet each January stop being workable — the record-keeping has to happen as you go.

That is the real change for trade businesses: your quoting, invoicing, and job costs need to live somewhere digital, all year round. Field Forge keeps every quote, invoice, and cost against the job it belongs to and syncs with Xero and QuickBooks — so the quarterly numbers your accountant files are already there.