Making Tax Digital Software for Decorators

Making Tax Digital (MTD) is changing how UK businesses report their income and expenses to HMRC. For painters and decorators, this means keeping digital records throughout the year and submitting information electronically rather than scrambling at year-end with a box of receipts.

Trade Assist helps decorators stay prepared for Making Tax Digital by keeping your income and expense records organised and exportable throughout the year. Every quote, invoice, expense and payment is recorded automatically, so your records are always up to date.

Trade Assist is not HMRC-approved MTD bridging software — it does not submit directly to HMRC. Instead, it keeps your records organised and produces exports that your accountant or MTD-compatible accounting software can use for submission. This keeps you prepared and reduces the admin burden at deadline time.

What Making Tax Digital Means for Decorators

Making Tax Digital is an HMRC initiative to move UK tax records and submissions into the digital age. Under MTD for VAT, VAT-registered businesses must keep digital records and submit VAT returns using MTD-compatible software. MTD for Income Tax is being phased in for self-employed businesses and landlords with income above certain thresholds.

For decorators, this means you can no longer rely on paper records and manual year-end calculations. You need to keep digital records of your income and expenses throughout the year and use compatible software for your submissions.

The good news is that if you are already using Trade Assist to manage your quotes, invoices and expenses, you are most of the way there. Your records are already digital and organised.

Digital Record Keeping Throughout the Year

Trade Assist keeps your records digital and organised automatically. Every invoice you create records income. Every expense you log records a cost. Every payment you track updates your financial picture. You do not need to do anything extra — just use Trade Assist to run your business as normal.

Your income is categorised by client, job and invoice. Your expenses are categorised by type — Materials, Fuel, Subcontractor, Equipment and Other. VAT is calculated automatically on every invoice and quote if you are VAT-registered.

This means that at any point in the year, you can see a clear summary of your income and expenses without any additional data entry.

Tax Export for Your Accountant or Software

The Tax Export feature produces a complete summary of your income and expenses for any tax year or any month. The export includes all invoices, expenses, payments and VAT amounts, categorised and totalled.

You can provide this export to your accountant for your Self Assessment or VAT return. If you use MTD-compatible accounting software like Xero or Sage, you can use the export to populate your records for MTD submission.

This saves hours of admin at year-end and reduces the risk of errors from manual data entry. Your accountant gets clean, organised data rather than a shoebox of receipts.

VAT Handling for VAT-Registered Decorators

If you are VAT-registered, Trade Assist handles VAT automatically. Set your VAT rate in your settings and every quote and invoice calculates the net amount, VAT amount and gross total automatically. You can store your VAT registration number in your business details.

The VAT reporting feature in the admin area provides a summary of your VAT-able income, VAT collected and VAT paid on expenses, helping you prepare your VAT return. The Tax Export includes a VAT breakdown by period.

This makes VAT returns far less painful — your figures are already calculated and organised, ready for your accountant or MTD-compatible software.

Expense Tracking for Accurate Tax Records

Tracking expenses properly reduces your tax bill — every allowable expense you log reduces your profit and therefore your tax. Trade Assist lets you log expenses against each job — materials, fuel, subcontractor costs and equipment — so you can see exactly what each project cost.

The expense categories align with what your accountant needs for your Self Assessment or company accounts. The mileage log feature lets you track business miles for tax-deductible travel costs.

CIS (Construction Industry Scheme) records can also be tracked for decorators who use subcontractors, with verification numbers, deduction rates and net amounts recorded for each payment.

How Trade Assist Works with Your Accountant

Trade Assist is designed to work alongside your accountant, not replace them. Your accountant receives clean, organised data from the Tax Export and can use it for your Self Assessment, VAT return or company accounts.

If your accountant uses accounting software like Xero, Sage or QuickBooks, they can import the data from your Tax Export into their system for MTD submission. Trade Assist does not submit directly to HMRC — it keeps your records organised and exportable.

This collaborative approach means you get the benefits of digital record keeping for MTD while your accountant handles the actual submission and tax advice.

Accounting Integrations

The Accounting Hub in Trade Assist provides an overview of your business finances and integration options for popular accounting platforms. The Tax Export feature produces data in a format that can be used with accounting software.

For details on how Trade Assist works with specific accounting platforms, see our Xero for decorators and Sage for decorators pages.

These integrations help you bridge the gap between your day-to-day business management in Trade Assist and your formal accounting and MTD submission in your accounting software.

Frequently Asked Questions