Builders, sparkies, plasterers, plumbers: this one’s probably you.

Why it’s you

The line is £50,000 of money in, before anything comes off. Not profit. Not after materials, not after the van, not after the lad you pay on a Friday. For a going trade with a few years behind it, invoicing that much in a year is normal - and it means you’ve been in this since 6 April 2026, whether anyone mentioned it or not.

If you’re CIS it’s worse, in a way: the number is what you invoiced before the 20% came off. Plenty of subbies who’d say they earn forty-odd are over the line. That one’s explained properly here.

What actually changed

It used to be one return a year, done in January from a pile of statements and a shoebox. Now the records have to be kept digitally as you go, in software HMRC recognises, and a summary goes in every three months - 7 August, 7 November, 7 February, 7 May - with the usual return by 31 January on top.

For a trade that means every job invoiced, every merchant receipt, every cash payment in or out, logged through the year rather than reconstructed in January. None of it is hard on its own. It’s that it never stops.

The honest bit about price

Our headline is £29 a month, and for a lot of people that’s right. For most builders it’s £45. Cash jobs, CIS, more than one bank account, materials in and out - it’s more sorting at our end, and we’d rather say so here than on the call. What you get is the same either way: the records, all four updates, the year-end return, and a message each time telling you it’s done.

Not convinced once we’ve filed your first one? Every penny back.

What you’d actually have to do

• Let us see your bank. Look only - you approve it in your own banking app, we can’t move a penny, and you switch it off yourself. Don’t fancy it? Send us statements instead.
• Tell us about any cash. Paid a lad in cash, or a customer paid you in cash? Send the amount and the day. A text is plenty.
• Answer the odd question. “Was the £480 at the merchant in May materials for a job or a new tool?” One line back.

Once a year, in January, you look over the year-end figures we’ve prepared and say they’re right before they go in. That bit stays yours by law. A few minutes.

Missed August?

There are no penalty points for a late quarterly update this tax year. The next one is 7 November. What to do if you’re behind.

General information about how the rules work, correct as at September 2026. Not advice about your own tax position. Software is HMRC-recognised.