Making Tax Digital · Cleaners and carers
Making Tax Digital for cleaners and self-employed carers
What we do
Compare Advantage is a free comparison service. Tell us how you work and roughly what you earn, and up to 4 accountants who handle Making Tax Digital will contact you with their fees. Self-employed cleaners and home carers with more than £30,000 of self-employed income before costs on their 2025 to 2026 tax return start Making Tax Digital on 6 April 2027. Wages from a PAYE job do not count towards that figure.
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£30,000
self-employed income before costs, from April 2027
- 0
- PAYE wages counted towards the threshold
- 4
- quarterly updates, each covering the year so far
- 55p
- a mile between clients, first 10,000 miles (2026-27)
- £20,000
- the threshold from April 2028
Many clients, small amounts
Why the records look different
A self-employed cleaner or carer rarely has one big customer. More often it is ten or twenty households, each paying a small amount every week or fortnight, some by bank transfer, some by standing order and some in cash on the kitchen table. Add a letting agent who pays monthly and a family that pays through a council direct payment, and the year is hundreds of small entries.
Making Tax Digital asks for those entries to be kept in software as you go, then summarised for HMRC four times a year. The good news is that the summaries are simple when the day-to-day records are done. The work is in the habit, not the forms.
Your client list is your backbone
One line per client, one entry per payment
Start with a list of your regular clients and how each one pays. Then record each payment against the right client as it arrives. When a payment is missing, you see it straight away, rather than finding a gap in the bank statement next January.
| Client | Work | How they pay |
|---|---|---|
| Mrs A, Tuesday mornings | 3 hours weekly | Bank transfer each Friday |
| The B family, Monday and Thursday | 2 × 2 hours | Cash on the day |
| C Lettings, end-of-tenancy cleans | As booked | Invoice, paid within 30 days |
| Mr D, fortnightly | 2 hours | Standing order monthly |
An illustrative client list. Under the cash basis, each payment counts when you receive it, so the letting agent’s invoice counts when it is paid, not when you send it.
Are you in?
Only the self-employed part counts
Many cleaners and carers mix work: a few shifts for a care agency on PAYE, plus private clients of their own. Only the private, self-employed income counts towards the Making Tax Digital threshold. If the agency pays you through payroll, those wages are taxed as they are now and stay out of the calculation.
The figure is your income before costs. So a cleaner who takes £32,000 from private clients and spends £4,000 on products and travel is over the £30,000 line, even though the profit is £28,000. The MTD checker works it out in a minute.
Care work
Agencies, families and direct payments
Home carers are paid in more ways than cleaners. Some work for a care agency on PAYE. Some invoice an agency as self-employed. Some are paid directly by the person they care for or their family, sometimes using a direct payment from the council.
Being paid from a direct payment does not make you self-employed, and HMRC’s own guidance says a carer working in the client’s home is likely to be an employee. What matters is how the work is arranged: whether you set your own hours and methods, can turn work down, and could send someone else in your place. If the family decides when and how you work, you may be their employee, and they may need to run payroll. HMRC’s employment status guidance sets out the tests, and an accountant can help you check.
What you can claim
The costs that add up
- Travel between clients, by car at the mileage rate or on actual costs, or bus fares as paid.
- Cleaning products and equipment you buy for the work, from cloths to a vacuum cleaner.
- Protective clothing, such as gloves and aprons, and a uniform if you wear one.
- Your phone, the business share of the bill, since clients call and text you.
- Insurance, such as public liability cover for working in people’s homes.
- Training that keeps your skills up to date or supports the work you already do, such as moving and handling refreshers.
Ask your accountant about other costs specific to your work, such as background check fees. The general rules are on GOV.UK’s page on expenses if you are self-employed.
The first ten minutes from home
Which journeys count
Travel from one client’s home to the next is business travel. So is the trip to the shop for supplies for a job. For someone who works from home and visits different clients each day, the journeys to and from those clients are normally business travel too. What cannot be claimed is ordinary commuting to one permanent place of work.
The flat mileage rate is 55p a mile for the first 10,000 business miles in 2026 to 2027 and 25p after that. A mileage app, or a note in your diary with each day’s route, is enough, and the mileage calculator checks whether actual costs would claim more. Under Making Tax Digital the mileage is recorded through the year, so it goes into each quarterly update.
A routine that works
Fifteen minutes on a Friday
- 1Tick off the week’s paymentsGo down your client list and check every payment has arrived, cash included.
- 2Snap the receiptsPhotograph the week’s receipts for products, fuel and parking into the app.
- 3Log the milesCheck the mileage app or add the week’s journeys from your diary.
- 4Chase anything missingA quick text to a client who has not paid is easier now than in three months.
Do that each week and the quarterly update is a couple of clicks, and the tax calculator shows what to move into savings. For more on records, see Making Tax Digital for the self-employed, and for choosing a product, MTD software.
Your questions
Cleaners and carers ask
I clean for twelve households. Do I need a separate record for each?
You need a record of each payment you receive. Noting which client each one came from makes the records far easier to check, and most software lets you tag payments by customer. Source
Some clients pay cash on the day. Does that count?
Yes. Cash payments are income just like bank transfers. Record each one on the day, with the client’s name, so it is not missed. Source
Can I claim the travel between my clients’ houses?
Yes. Travel between clients is business travel. You can claim a car at 55p a mile for the first 10,000 business miles in 2026 to 2027, or the actual costs, and bus fares as they are paid. Source
I also have a part-time job on PAYE. Does my wage count towards £30,000?
No. Only self-employed and property income count. A PAYE wage from a care company or a school does not, so many people with a job and a cleaning round are under the threshold. Source
Can I claim my cleaning products and equipment?
Yes, if you buy them for the work. Products, cloths, a vacuum cleaner and protective gloves are business costs. If the client supplies the products, there is nothing to claim. Source
I get paid by a family using a direct payment. Am I self-employed?
Often not. HMRC’s guidance says a carer working in the client’s own home is likely to be an employee, and the person getting the direct payment may need to run payroll. It depends on the facts, so check with HMRC’s employment status guidance. Source
I work through an agency. Does Making Tax Digital apply?
If the agency pays you through PAYE, that pay does not count. If you invoice the agency as self-employed, those earnings are self-employed income and do count. Source
What are the quarterly deadlines?
7 August, 7 November, 7 February and 7 May, each covering the tax year so far. The tax return is still due by 31 January. Source
Do I need to buy expensive software?
No. HMRC lists compatible products, including some free ones for simple businesses. A cleaner or carer with one income stream often needs only the basics. Source
What if my income is under £20,000?
You do not have to use Making Tax Digital for Income Tax. You keep filing a normal Self Assessment return each year. Source
Sources
- GOV.UK: Find out if and when you need to use MTD for Income Tax
- GOV.UK: Work out your qualifying income
- GOV.UK: Send quarterly updates
- GOV.UK: Find compatible software
- GOV.UK: Cash basis
- GOV.UK: Expenses if you’re self-employed
- GOV.UK: Expenses if you’re self-employed, travel
- GOV.UK: Simplified expenses for vehicles
- GOV.UK: Check employment status for tax
Written by the Compare Advantage team, Chorley. Facts checked against GOV.UK on 3 November 2026.
Compare Advantage is an introduction service. We are not an accountancy firm and do not give tax advice. We will contact you to introduce a local accountant who handles Making Tax Digital, and we tell you which firm before we pass on your details. Firms may pay us for the introduction. Guidance on this page is general and based on the GOV.UK sources linked on each page.