Are you in? It’s your takings, not your profit
Add up everything clients paid you in the 2025/26 tax year – treatments, packages, corporate or event bookings, gift vouchers and products sold – plus fees from clinics or spas who pay you as a freelancer, before taking off any costs. If that is over £30,000 (with any rental income), MTD applies to you 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 client pays for a 60-minute sports massage | Sales / turnover | Record the full price on the day, card, cash or transfer. |
| A spa pays your invoice for a Saturday of treatments | Turnover – freelance fees | Record the invoice amount as income when paid. |
| You pay the clinic for four hours of room hire | Allowable expense – rent | Keep the invoice or bank record. |
| You buy massage oil, couch roll and towels | Allowable expense – consumables | Snap the receipt into your app. |
| You buy a portable couch for home visits | Equipment – deductible when paid for (cash basis) | Keep the receipt. |
| You drive to a client’s home or a corporate event | Business mileage – allowable expense | Log the miles; 45p a mile for the first 10,000. |
| You transfer money to your own account for household bills | Drawings – not an expense | 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 massage therapist claim?
✓ Usually allowable
- Clinic, gym or spa room hire
- Oils, lotions, couch roll, towels and laundry
- Couch, stool, bolsters, hot stones and other equipment
- Professional body membership and insurance
- CPD courses that update techniques you already use
- Booking software, website and card fees
- Tunic or uniform, and its cleaning
- Mileage for home visits and between venues
- Home treatment room: a reasonable business share of household costs
- Advertising and business share of your phone
✗ Not allowable
- Massages or treatments you have yourself
- Everyday clothing
- Travel from home to the clinic you work at every week
- A course that gives you a brand-new qualification
- Money you take for yourself (drawings)
Rules that matter for massage therapists
Several venues, one business
If you do the same kind of work in different places – a clinic, a gym, clients’ homes – it is usually all one self-employed business. Your software should show one total for income and expenses, not separate businesses for each room.
Home treatment room
If clients come to a room in your home, you can claim a reasonable share of heating, electricity and rent or mortgage interest based on how much space and time it is used for the business. If the room is used only for business, check the capital gains tax position before you sell the house.
Gift vouchers and packages
Voucher and package money is income when you receive it, not when the treatment happens. If you refund one, record the refund in the period you pay it.
Worked example
Priya is a sports massage therapist working from a clinic room and a home studio in Cardiff (illustrative example)
| Takings (turnover) | £31,600 |
| less Clinic room hire | −£5,200 |
| less Oils, couch roll and laundry | −£1,150 |
| less New couch and equipment | −£620 |
| less Insurance and professional membership | −£480 |
| less Booking software, website and card fees | −£760 |
| less Mileage for home visits (3,000 miles) | −£1,350 |
| Profit | £22,040 |
| Income tax (estimate) | £1,894 |
| Class 4 National Insurance (estimate) | £568 |
| Total tax for the year | £2,462 |
| Put aside each month | £205 |
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 therapist: download your booking or card reader report, add cash and bank transfers, check spa or clinic invoices have been paid, add the room hire invoices and oils receipts, and total up the mileage log. Then press submit in your software, or let your accountant do it.
| 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 massage therapists ask
I hire a clinic room by the hour. Is that an allowable expense?
Yes. Room hire you pay to see clients is a normal business expense.
Can I claim my own regular massage?
No. Even though it keeps you working, it has a personal element and is not “wholly and exclusively” for the business.
I’m a part-time employed physio and do massage privately. Does MTD apply?
Your employment wages don’t count. Your private massage takings do – if they (plus any rental income) are over the MTD threshold, MTD applies to you.
Do I have to keep receipts for oils and couch roll?
Yes. Under MTD you keep digital records – a photo of the receipt in your app or a saved order email is enough.
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.