Are you in? It’s your takings, not your profit
Add up everything you earned from tutoring in the 2025/26 tax year – lessons paid by parents, platform bookings before the platform’s commission, group classes and any course materials you sell – before taking off expenses. If you are paid through payroll by a school, agency or exam board, that is employment income and does not count. If the self-employed 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 parent pays for a block of ten lessons upfront | Sales / turnover | Record the full payment when you receive it. |
| A tutoring platform pays you after taking its commission | Gross income + an expense (fees) | Record the full lesson price as income and the commission as an expense. |
| You pay for your video-call subscription and a digital whiteboard | Allowable expense – software | Keep the invoices. |
| You drive to a student’s house for a lesson | Business mileage – allowable | Log the miles. 45p a mile for the first 10,000 business miles. |
| You teach online from your spare room most evenings | Use of home – flat rate or business share | Use HMRC’s flat rate (e.g. £18 a month for 51–100 hours) or work out a share of bills. |
| An exam board pays you for marking through payroll | Employment income – not part of MTD | Keep the payslip for your tax return, but leave it out of your business records. |
| You move money to your personal account | 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 tutor claim?
✓ Usually allowable
- Tutoring platform commission and payment processing fees
- Video-call, scheduling, whiteboard and online resource subscriptions
- Past papers, textbooks, revision guides and printing
- A laptop, tablet, headset or webcam used for lessons (business share)
- Travel to students’ homes – business mileage or bus and train fares
- Working from home – HMRC flat rate or a share of household bills
- DBS checks and professional membership fees
- Professional indemnity or public liability insurance
- Website, listing fees and advertising
- Courses that update your knowledge for subjects you already tutor
✗ Not allowable
- Books and devices for personal use (only the business share)
- Qualifications to start teaching a brand new subject
- Everyday clothing
- Coffee and snacks while you work
- Money you take out for yourself (drawings)
Rules that matter for private tutors
Platforms and HMRC reporting
Online platforms that pay sellers for services may report that income to HMRC. Record the full lesson price your platform shows as income and its commission as an expense, so your figures line up with any report HMRC receives.
Teachers who tutor
Your school salary is employment income and is never part of MTD. Your tutoring income is self-employment and is counted on its own. Higher-rate teachers should remember that tutoring profits may be taxed at 40%.
Exam marking
Exam boards commonly pay markers through payroll. If you get a payslip, that income is not self-employment and doesn’t count towards MTD. If you are paid as self-employed instead, it goes in with your tutoring income.
Working from home
For online tutoring you can use HMRC’s flat rate for working from home (£10, £18 or £26 a month depending on hours), or claim a reasonable share of actual bills. Choose one approach.
Worked example
Tom tutors maths and physics online and in person around Reading (illustrative example)
| Takings (turnover) | £41,200 |
| less Tutoring platform commission | −£3,900 |
| less Software and online resource subscriptions | −£620 |
| less Laptop, tablet and headset | −£1,350 |
| less Books, past papers and printing | −£380 |
| less Business mileage to students | −£1,240 |
| less Working from home, DBS, insurance and website | −£760 |
| Profit | £32,950 |
| Income tax (estimate) | £4,076 |
| Class 4 National Insurance (estimate) | £1,223 |
| Total tax for the year | £5,299 |
| Put aside each month | £442 |
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 tutor: download each platform’s earnings statement, add direct payments from families, record platform commission as an expense, add your mileage log and software invoices – then press submit in your software, or let your accountant do it. If you invoice families in blocks, a simple list of who has paid makes the quarter quick.
| 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 private tutors ask
I’m a full-time teacher who tutors in the evenings. Does MTD apply?
Your teaching salary doesn’t count. Your tutoring income does – over £1,000 a year and you need to register for Self Assessment, and above the MTD threshold (with any rental income), MTD applies.
My tutoring platform pays me less than the parent paid. Which figure do I use?
Record the full price as income and the platform’s commission as an expense. Your turnover, which decides MTD, is the full amount.
Does exam marking count?
Usually not, if the exam board pays you through payroll. If you are paid as self-employed, it counts with your tutoring income.
Can I claim my laptop?
Yes, the business share. Under the cash basis, equipment is deducted in the year you pay for it.
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.