Do I need to do Making Tax Digital?
See it in treatments a week.
A free check for hairdressers, nail techs and beauty therapists. Tell us what a normal week looks like and see where you stand against HMRC’s lines, at your own prices. Nothing you type is saved.
Check where you stand
On these numbers, you’d start on 6 April 2027.
On these numbers you take about £30,240 a year before any costs.
If your 2025 to 2026 tax return shows more than £30,000, you’d need to use Making Tax Digital from 6 April 2027.
If it doesn’t, the next line is more than £20,000 on your 2026 to 2027 return, from 6 April 2028.
| Line | You pass it at | From |
|---|---|---|
| More than £20,000 | 10 a week | 6 April 2028 |
| More than £30,000 | 14 a week | 6 April 2027 |
| More than £50,000 | 24 a week | 6 April 2026 |
This is a rough check, not tax advice. Covered Beauty isn’t HMRC-recognised Making Tax Digital software. HMRC’s own checker gives the official answer: find out if and when you need to use it on GOV.UK.
What are HMRC’s lines?
Making Tax Digital for Income Tax is HMRC’s new way for sole traders and landlords to do Self Assessment. You keep digital records, send HMRC a summary every three months from your software, and send your tax return through it too. GOV.UK says you need to use it when your income from self-employment and property is over the line for a tax year:
- More than £50,000 on your 2024 to 2025 tax return: from 6 April 2026, so it has already started.
- More than £30,000 on your 2025 to 2026 tax return: from 6 April 2027.
- More than £20,000 on your 2026 to 2027 tax return: from 6 April 2028.
So the £30,000 line goes by your 2025 to 2026 tax return, and the £20,000 line by your 2026 to 2027 one. If you started as a sole trader part way through a year, HMRC works out what you’d have taken over a full year, where it has the information. Limited companies aren’t in it, and partnerships join later, with no date set yet.
Over £50,000 on your 2024 to 2025 return and in already? HMRC won’t give penalty points for late quarterly updates in the 2026 to 2027 tax year. Late tax returns still get points.
What does the check count?
Everything you take before costs. GOV.UK calls it your qualifying income, also known as turnover: all your income from self-employment and property, before expenses. So put in what clients pay you, and any other self-employed work or rent you get in your own name. Your share of a property you own jointly counts too.
It doesn’t count wages paid through PAYE, pensions, your share of the profit as a partner in a partnership, or dividends, including those from your own company.
Want the whole picture, from what you have to record to whether a spreadsheet will do? Read Making Tax Digital for hairdressers, nail techs and beauty therapists.
Questions about the check
Is this HMRC’s official checker?
No. It’s our rough check, using the lines on GOV.UK, to turn them into treatments a week. HMRC’s own checker on GOV.UK gives the official answer, and tells you if you may be exempt.
Do you keep what I type?
No. The check works in your browser. Nothing you choose or type is sent to us or saved, and closing the page clears it.
Does it count what I take or what I keep?
What you take. GOV.UK measures your income from self-employment and property before expenses, also known as turnover. Take £32,000, pay £10,000 for your chair and products, keep £22,000, and you’re still over the £30,000 line.
Does Covered Beauty send my updates to HMRC?
No. Covered Beauty is a booking app, not HMRC-recognised Making Tax Digital software, and it doesn’t send anything to HMRC. You can download the payments you’ve recorded against your bookings as a spreadsheet for your accountant. Gift voucher sales and sunbed package sales aren’t in that file, and nor is anything you take outside Covered Beauty or any expense. Reports shows what you sold in vouchers and packages.
Sources
Each page was read on 3 November 2026.
What else should you read?
Making Tax Digital for hairdressers, nail techs and beauty therapists
HMRC’s lines in treatments a week at your prices, what counts and what doesn’t, what you have to record and when updates are due.
Read the guideNewly qualified lash, brow or nail tech: your admin checklist
Insurance, forms and patch tests, the ICO fee, the council, HMRC, your prices, deposits and Instagram, sorted before your first paying client.
Read the guide