Are you in? It’s your takings, not your profit
Add up everything you were paid for cleaning in the 2025/26 tax year – weekly regulars, one-off deep cleans, end-of-tenancy jobs, changeovers, laundry you charge for and any extra like oven cleaning – before taking off fuel, products or anything else. If that total (plus any rent from property you let) is over £30,000, MTD applies from 6 April 2027. Over £50,000 and you have been in since April 2026.
Over £50,000
Over £30,000
Over £20,000
planned
Your work in accountant language
What actually happens in your working life, what your accountant and HMRC call it, and what to do about it.
| What happens | Accountant calls it | What you do |
|---|---|---|
| A regular client leaves cash on the kitchen side or pays by bank transfer | Sales / turnover | Record every payment on the day you get it, cash included. |
| A host pays you for a month of Airbnb changeovers in one go | Turnover (one invoice, many jobs) | Record the full amount when it lands. Keep your changeover log as back-up. |
| You charge a host extra for washing and ironing their bed linen | Turnover, plus laundry costs as an expense | The laundry fee is income; the launderette or detergent cost is an expense. |
| You stock up on cloths, sprays, mop heads and bin bags | Allowable expense – cleaning materials | Photograph the receipt. If it includes your own shopping, record only the work items. |
| You drive from one client’s house to the next | Business mileage – allowable | Log the miles. 45p a mile for the first 10,000 business miles. |
| You buy a new vacuum or carpet cleaner | Equipment – deductible in the year you buy it (cash basis) | Keep the receipt; it comes off your profit this year. |
| You transfer money to your personal account for the weekly shop | Drawings – not an expense | Fine to do, but it doesn’t reduce your tax. |
| Every three months | Quarterly update | Your software sends HMRC your income and expense totals. |
| After 5 April | Final declaration | Confirm the year’s figures; tax is worked out and due by 31 January. |
What can a cleaner claim?
✓ Usually allowable
- Cleaning products, cloths, sponges, mop heads, gloves and bin bags
- Vacuums, steam cleaners, carpet cleaners and their repairs
- Business mileage between clients (45p a mile for the first 10,000 miles), or the business share of actual van or car costs
- Parking while you are at a client’s house
- Laundry costs for linen and cloths you wash for clients
- A tabard, branded polo or protective clothing
- Public liability insurance and DBS checks
- Business share of your phone, and advertising such as leaflets or local Facebook ads
- Cleaning job platform or lead fees and accounting software
✗ Not allowable
- Ordinary clothes you happen to clean in
- Your own household shopping bought on the same receipt
- Lunch and coffees between jobs
- Parking fines
- Money you take out for yourself (drawings)
Rules that matter for domestic cleaners
Cash is still income
Many cleaning clients pay in cash. It counts towards your turnover and the MTD threshold just like a bank transfer. A quick habit: note each cash payment in your app before you leave the house.
Who pays you on changeovers
If you clean for an Airbnb host, the host is your client – you are not the one renting the property, so this is trading income, not property income. If the host pays you through a platform or a management company, record the full amount you are owed as income and any fee taken off as an expense.
Working for an agency
If a cleaning agency sets your hours, rates and clients and pays you through payroll, you are probably an employee and that pay is not part of MTD. If you find your own work, set your prices and can send someone else, you are more likely self-employed. HMRC’s Check employment status for tax tool can help.
Taking on help
If you pay someone to help on big deep cleans, what you pay them is an expense. Check whether they are self-employed or should be on a payroll – payroll is separate from MTD.
Worked example
Michelle cleans homes and holiday lets around Whitby (illustrative example)
| Takings (turnover) | £34,800 |
| less Business mileage (8,200 miles at 45p) | −£3,690 |
| less Cleaning products and supplies | −£1,450 |
| less Vacuum and steam cleaner | −£420 |
| less Laundry for changeover linen | −£1,900 |
| less Insurance, DBS check and phone (business share) | −£520 |
| less Advertising and parking | −£380 |
| Profit | £26,440 |
| Income tax (estimate) | £2,774 |
| Class 4 National Insurance (estimate) | £832 |
| Total tax for the year | £3,606 |
| Put aside each month | £301 |
Estimate for 2026/27 using England, Wales & NI rates, assuming no other income. Scotland has different income tax bands.
What a quarterly update looks like
A typical quarter for a cleaner: check your bank and cash notes against your diary so every job is recorded, add the mileage from your log, snap any missing receipts for products and laundry – then press submit in your software, or let your accountant do it. Ten minutes on a Friday afternoon each week keeps it painless.
| Quarter | Period | Submit by |
|---|---|---|
| Q1 | 6 Apr – 5 Jul | 7 Aug |
| Q2 | 6 Jul – 5 Oct | 7 Nov |
| Q3 | 6 Oct – 5 Jan | 7 Feb |
| Q4 | 6 Jan – 5 Apr | 7 May |
| Final declaration | The whole tax year | 31 Jan following |
Quarterly updates are summaries – they don’t change when you pay. Tax is still due by 31 January (plus payments on account on 31 January and 31 July if they apply to you).
What will an accountant cost?
Typical monthly fees under MTD for Income Tax for: Sole trader, one business.
| Option | What you get | Per month |
|---|---|---|
| You do it yourself | MTD-compatible software. You keep the records and send the updates. | £0–£15up to £180 a year |
| Accountant files for you | You keep records in an app; they check them, send the 4 quarterly updates and the final declaration. | £30–£60about £360–£720 a year |
| Full service | They do the bookkeeping too – you share receipts and bank feeds, they handle the rest. | £60–£120about £720–£1,440 a year |
What pushes the price up: lots of transactions every month, or more than one income stream; records kept on paper rather than in an app; being VAT-registered; catching up on missed updates or late returns.
What a fixed-fee quote should include
- All 4 quarterly updates and the final declaration (your tax return)
- The MTD software licence – or whether you pay for it separately
- Whether they do the bookkeeping or only check what you’ve recorded
- A reminder before each deadline and an estimate of the tax to put aside
- Whether VAT (20%) is added on top – not every practice charges it
Accountancy fees for your business are an allowable expense, so they reduce your tax bill.
Indicative ranges from published UK price lists, checked October 2026. Not a quote – your fee depends on how many transactions you have, how tidy your records are and where you live.
Questions domestic cleaners ask
Some of my clients pay me cash. Do I really need to record it?
Yes. All payments for your cleaning work are income, however they are paid, and they count towards your MTD threshold.
Can I claim the products my clients supply?
No – you can only claim what you pay for. If a client provides their own products, there is nothing to claim.
I clean for a holiday-let host. Is that property income?
No. Property income belongs to the person renting the property out. Your changeover fees are self-employed trading income.
I work part-time in a shop and clean a few houses at weekends. Am I affected?
Your shop wages are not counted for MTD. Your cleaning income is – over £1,000 a year and you need to register for Self Assessment, and if it (plus any rental income) goes above the MTD threshold, MTD applies.
Sources
- Find out if and when you need to use Making Tax Digital for Income Tax – GOV.UK
- Work out your qualifying income for Making Tax Digital for Income Tax – GOV.UK
- Send quarterly updates using Making Tax Digital for Income Tax – GOV.UK
- Find software that works with Making Tax Digital for Income Tax – GOV.UK
- Penalties for Making Tax Digital for Income Tax – GOV.UK
This guide is general information about HMRC’s Making Tax Digital rules as of 26 October 2026, not tax advice. MTD Match is an independent introduction service and is not affiliated with HMRC. Check gov.uk or speak to an accountant about your own situation.