MTD Sorted - For Sole Traders

Making Tax Digital hits sole traders from April 2026 — if your turnover's over £50,000 you're already in, and your first quarterly deadline is 7 August. This kit gets you sorted in an afternoon.

I'm a self-employed musician and IT consultant — I'm in this myself, and I file the same Self Assessment return you do. Tax confuses the hell out of me. MTD sounded fine until the "four times a year" part, and I couldn't even work out if it applied to me: jargon everywhere, blogs contradicting each other, GOV.UK pages that felt impenetrable. This kit started as my own way of making sense of it — one pathway, in order, with dates. Not a reference manual: a triage sheet.

Start with five questions. Do you file Self Assessment? Do you have self-employment income? What's your GROSS income (turnover, not profit — this catches people out)? Which threshold do you cross — £50k means you're in NOW? Are you exempt? The kit walks you through each one, including the mileage rules (45p/25p) most people get wrong.

And the most reassuring fact up front: nobody in the first wave gets penalty points for a late quarterly update in 2026/27. HMRC built in a soft-landing year. You have time to do this properly.

Not mandated yet? Over £30,000 you join in April 2027, over £20,000 in April 2028 — and unlike the first wave, those waves get NO grace year. Setting up now, calmly, is the cheap way to do this.

WHAT YOU GET (instant ZIP download):

- The Guide (PDF) — the whole pathway in plain English: am I in, when, what to do each quarter, and exactly how filing works

- The Sole Trader Tracker (Excel) — income & expenses in the same categories as your SA103 form, plus a mileage tab that does the 45p/25p threshold sum for you, and an optional property tab if you have both; error-checks built in so a typo can't silently wreck your totals

- Deadline checklist (PDF) — every date for 2026/27 on one page, stick it on the fridge

- "Am I caught by this?" flowchart (PDF) — the five questions as a printable decision tree

- START HERE (PDF) — which file to open first

Free updates through April 2027 — when the rules move, you'll be emailed the updated files, including a fresh tracker for the 2027/28 tax year when the dates roll over.

Honestly, who it's NOT for: limited companies, partnerships, trusts or genuinely complex affairs — you need an accountant, not a £19 kit.

Not sure any of this applies to you? The 60-second decision-tree flowchart is free at techdog.co.uk/mtd — it might tell you that you don't need the kit at all.

The legal bit, in plain English: this is general information, not personal tax, financial or legal advice. I'm not a regulated accountant or HMRC agent, and this kit is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or recognised by HMRC. The tracker is not filing software — you use it alongside HMRC-recognised software, and the guide shows you exactly how. Always check GOV.UK and speak to a qualified professional before acting.

Refunds: Because this is an instant digital download, I can't take it back once you've got it — but I'd rather refund you than have you feel ripped off. If the kit isn't useful, email rob@techdog.co.uk within 30 days with your order number and I'll refund you in full, no interrogation. (UK consumers: by downloading immediately you consent to waive the 14-day statutory cancellation right for digital content under the Consumer Contracts Regulations 2013 — the guarantee above is more generous than the statutory position.)