Do roofers have to use MTD for Income Tax?
If you are a sole trader roofer, MTD for Income Tax applies to you when your qualifying income is over the threshold. The test uses your turnover, not your profit and not what you take out of the business.
The thresholds start in stages:
- over 50,000 pounds in 2024-25 - you must use MTD ITSA for 2026-27, from 6 April 2026
- over 30,000 pounds in 2025-26 - from 6 April 2027
- over 20,000 pounds in 2026-27 - from 6 April 2028
The thresholds are set in law by SI 2026/336 regulation 27, in force 1 April 2026.
Qualifying income of 20,000 pounds or less is an automatic permanent exemption.
What counts as qualifying income for a roofing business
Qualifying income is the total income from self-employment and property before expenses. It is taken from the tax return submitted in the previous tax year.
Add self-employment income and property income together before testing the threshold. All UK properties are treated as one UK property business, and all foreign properties as one foreign property business.
Not counted towards the threshold:
- employment income through PAYE
- a partnership share as an individual partner
- dividends
- State and private pensions
- qualifying care relief
- basis period reform transition profits
- one-off transactions in UK land in a single tax year
A modest roofing turnover plus income from a property you rent out can take you over the line even when each on its own sits below it.
Partnerships are not in scope yet, with no date published.
What each quarterly update contains
There are four updates a year, built from digital records. Each one is a set of totals by income and expense category, cumulative from 6 April.
An update is a summary, not a tax return. HMRC receives the category totals, not the individual transactions behind them.
The categories used are the same income and expense categories as Self Assessment, so the way you group your costs does not change.
You must still send an update for a period with no income and no expenses.
You can send updates more often than quarterly, but each must cover the full update period.
After each update you can see an estimate of your tax bill in your software or in HMRC online services.
The four deadline dates
The deadlines are the same whether your update periods are standard (aligned to the tax year, 6 April to 5 April) or calendar (1 April to 31 March, ending the last day of the month).
| Period ends | Update due |
|---|---|
| 5 July | 7 August |
| 5 October | 7 November |
| 5 January | 7 February |
| 5 April | 7 May |
The accounting period cannot be changed after the first quarterly update has been sent. Software defaults to a period aligned to the tax year; if your accounting period runs 1 April to 31 March you select calendar periods before the first update.
Materials, scaffolding and your day-to-day records
Cash basis is the default method of accounting from 2024-25, and you opt out to use traditional accounting. Under cash basis, income and expenses are recorded when money is received or a bill is paid.
A digital record is a record of income or an expense created and stored in compatible software. Keep digital records for at least 5 years after the 31 January submission deadline for the tax year, the same period as Self Assessment.
Once a record has been sent to HMRC in a quarterly update it must not be moved by hand, either within the software or between products. That means no writing it out in another cell or another product, and no cut and paste or copy and paste.
Business records for income and expenses must be kept for Self Assessment.
HMRC's examples of a digital link:
- linked cells in spreadsheets (a formula mirroring the source value)
- emailing a spreadsheet containing digital records so it can be imported
- transferring records on a portable device such as a memory stick for someone to import
- XML and CSV import and export and downloading and uploading files
- an automated transfer using an API
CIS on site, VAT and other income
If you work as a CIS subcontractor, deductions are taken from your payments before you receive them, and your CIS figures sit alongside your MTD records.
VAT is separate from MTD for Income Tax quarterly updates. VAT penalty points are counted separately from MTD ITSA points.
Other income can be kept digitally but does not have to be: a partnership share, dividends, savings interest, pensions.
Sign-up does not ask about other income sources or gains; those are added in compatible software before the tax return is submitted.
If you miss a deadline
One penalty point is added for each missed submission deadline, whether that is a quarterly update or the tax return.
- the threshold is 4 points, then a 200 pound penalty, then a further 200 pound penalty each time another submission deadline is missed
- only one point per deadline, even with several businesses and several late updates
- VAT penalty points are counted separately from MTD ITSA points
- points for the tax return deadline still apply in 2026-27
Below the threshold, each point is removed automatically 24 months after the missed deadline. At the threshold, points are not removed automatically: you need 12 months of on-time quarterly updates and tax returns, plus sending outstanding updates and returns for the previous 24 months.
Penalty points for volunteers have a lower threshold, of 2 points.
Late payment penalties are not points based and apply to each late payment, but not to payments on account.
The tax return and the final payment
The tax return is submitted after the tax year, and the tax is paid by 31 January.
The fourth update may need resending for joint property expenses, or Rent-a-Room relief claimed after the tax year ends, before tax adjustments are made.
You must be registered for Self Assessment and have submitted a tax return in the last 2 years to sign up. You can sign up for the current tax year or the next one before you are required to.
From September 2026 HMRC signs up anyone who needs it for 2026-27 and has not signed themselves up. It happens in stages, using only the information HMRC already holds, and the confirmation arrives in HMRC online services or by post.
Getting paid when a job runs over
You can claim interest and debt recovery costs if another business is late paying for goods or a service.
If a payment date is agreed it must usually be within 30 days for public authorities and 60 days for business transactions. A longer period can be agreed between businesses if it is fair to both.
If nothing is agreed, the law says payment is late 30 days after the customer gets the invoice, or 30 days after the goods are delivered or the service provided, if that is later.