MTD Software for Painters and Decorators (UK, 2026): Automatic Quarterly MTD Figures

Paint, sundries, the endless brushes and rollers — a decorator's small costs add up to real tax relief over a year.

From April 2026, Making Tax Digital for Income Tax requires self-employed people to keep digital records and send HMRC quarterly updates once gross income passes the threshold (£50,000 from 2026, £30,000 from 2027, £20,000 from 2028). For most full-time painters and decorators, that means quarterly reporting is coming — and the smart way to handle it is automatically.

How MTD Software Captures Painters and Decorators Expenses Automatically

A painter and decorator's deductible costs typically include:

• paint, materials and sundries
• brushes, rollers and access equipment
• dust sheets and protection
• van fuel and travel

On paid plans, photograph the receipt and AI reads the supplier, date and amount, then files it under the correct HMRC category. No shoebox, no month-end sorting — and nothing claimable slips through.

Logging Painters and Decorators Income for MTD Without Manual Entry

If you quote and invoice jobs in Sleepless Tradesman, your income is already recorded. Mark an invoice paid and it flows straight into your accounting — no re-typing into a separate ledger. That is what makes quarterly figures effortless: the numbers are built from work you have already done.

MTD Quarterly Submission Figures for Painters and Decorators Businesses

Your cumulative quarterly totals are calculated for you in the categories HMRC requires, with the deadline on screen and a reminder before it lands. Review them, then export a clean summary to submit yourself or hand to your accountant (direct submission to HMRC is coming once HMRC approves it). See the full accounting features.

MTD Income Thresholds for Painters and decorators

Making Tax Digital for Income Tax applies once your total self-employed income passes these annual thresholds:

Quarterly deadlines fall on 7 Aug, 7 Nov, 7 Feb and 7 May. Each missed deadline earns a penalty point; at four points HMRC charges a £200 penalty, then £200 for each further miss. If you joined in April 2026 you get no points for late quarterly updates in 2026-27, and Budget 2026 (28 October 2026) announced the same for people joining in April 2027, for 2027-28 — the legislation is still to be passed, and the updates must still be sent before your tax return. Late tax returns and late payment are still penalised.

What Counts as Income for a Painter and decorator?

Every payment you receive for decorating work — labour and materials — counts toward your MTD total. Whether the job is a full house repaint, a commercial decorating contract, or a one-off room, the invoice value goes into your gross income figure. Cash payments count the same as bank transfers.

Day-to-day, every invoice you issue must be recorded digitally — no memory, no paper ledger. The simplest way to stay compliant is to issue invoices through software that captures them as they go out.

Switching from a Spreadsheet to MTD Software

If you've been using a spreadsheet or paper records, the switch takes less than an afternoon:

1. Sign up and enter your business name, trade and UTR number
2. Link Xero if your accountant uses it (optional)
3. Import any outstanding invoices or enter opening figures for the current tax year
4. Start creating invoices and photographing receipts in the app — they feed the accounts automatically
5. At each quarterly deadline, review the pre-calculated summary and export it for you or your accountant to submit

HMRC requires digital records from the start of your first MTD accounting period. Starting before the threshold year means you'll have a full year of clean records when the first submission is due.

MTD Software Comparison for Painters and decorators

Frequently asked questions