Making Tax Digital for Musicians: Are You In From April 2027?
Last updated: September 2026 Written by Lillie Topham, professional singer and Gigflow co-creator
Key takeaway: Making Tax Digital starts on 6 April 2027 for self-employed musicians and performers whose fees and property income came to more than £30,000 in the 2025/26 tax year, counted before expenses. The Self Assessment return you file by 31 January 2027 is what decides it. The penalty-free first year only covered people who joined in April 2026, so late quarterly updates in the 2027 wave earn penalty points from the start.
When I wrote the first version of this guide in February, Making Tax Digital only reached performers earning over £50,000, which ruled out most of the singers and musicians I know. From April 2027 the line drops to £30,000, and it's measured on your fees before commission, mileage or anything else comes off. Here's who's in, how agency fees count, and what to sort out before April.
What is Making Tax Digital?
Making Tax Digital is an HMRC programme that requires sole traders and landlords to keep their records in software and send HMRC a running summary of income and expenses every three months, on top of a final return at the end of the year. It has applied to VAT-registered businesses since 2019, and to self-employed people with income over £50,000 since 6 April 2026.
For a performer, the day-to-day change is smaller than it sounds. You log fees and expenses as they happen, which most of us promise ourselves we'll do anyway.
Four times a year, you send the totals.
Who has to join Making Tax Digital in April 2027?
You have to use Making Tax Digital from 6 April 2027 if your qualifying income for the 2025/26 tax year was over £30,000. GOV.UK's guidance says that anyone over £30,000 for 2025 to 2026 "will need to use it from 6 April 2027" (GOV.UK: Find out if and when you need to use Making Tax Digital for Income Tax).
Qualifying income means your self-employed turnover plus any gross property income, added together. The 2025/26 tax year ran from 6 April 2025 to 5 April 2026, and the return for that year, due 31 January 2027, is the one HMRC uses to decide.
Qualifying income over | In the tax year | You join Making Tax Digital from |
|---|---|---|
£50,000 | 2024/25 | 6 April 2026 |
£30,000 | 2025/26 | 6 April 2027 |
£20,000 | 2026/27 | 6 April 2028 |
Why your fees count, not what you keep
This is the part that catches performers out. The threshold is measured on turnover: your fees before petrol, kit, backing tracks, stage clothes or anything else comes off.
I've been gigging for 17 years and I almost never think in turnover. I think about what lands in my account once the agency has had its share and the diesel is paid for. Most singers I know work the same way, which is exactly why this threshold is going to surprise people.
Take a function singer who did 42 gigs in 2025/26 at an average fee of £750. Most of her work comes through agencies that pay her the full fee and invoice their commission separately, so her turnover is £31,500. Take off £4,725 of commission, 7,000 business miles at the 2025/26 rate of 45p (£3,150), and around £4,600 of backing tracks, PA repairs, insurance and stage outfits. Her taxable profit comes out at about £19,000.
She's still in Making Tax Digital from April 2027. The £31,500 is what counts.
What doesn't count towards the £30,000?
Only self-employment and property income count. A salary paid through PAYE doesn't, and neither does savings interest or dividends.
If you teach in a school on a contract and sing at weekends, only the singing fees go towards the threshold. Private lessons you invoice for yourself are self-employed income, though, so those do go in.
A singer with £22,000 of gig fees and a £15,000 teaching salary isn't in the April 2027 wave. If her 2026/27 fees stay above £20,000, she joins in April 2028.
How do agency fees count towards the £30,000?
Agency commission doesn't reduce your turnover just because it comes off before you're paid. Agencies work in one of two ways. Some take their commission before they pay you. Others pay the full fee and invoice you for commission later. One of the agencies I work with does it the second way: the whole fee lands, then a commission invoice arrives at the end of the month.
If the agency invoices you separately, it's simple. The full fee counts towards the threshold, and the commission is a business expense.
If the agency deducts commission first, the answer depends on the arrangement. When the agency is acting as your agent, collecting the client's fee on your behalf, the full fee is still your turnover. A £500 wedding fee paid to you as £425 counts as £500 of turnover, with £75 of commission as an expense. When the agency books the gig in its own right and pays you a fee to perform, what it pays you is your turnover. A booking confirmation that shows the full fee with commission taken off is a strong sign the agency is acting as your agent.
If you're not sure which applies, count the full fee. Overestimating your turnover means you get ready for Making Tax Digital a little early. Underestimating it means you miss a deadline you were legally bound to meet. If you're anywhere near £30,000, have a quick conversation with your accountant before April.
Is there a grace period for the April 2027 wave?
No. The penalty-free first year announced at the Autumn Budget 2025 only covered people who joined Making Tax Digital in April 2026. If you join in April 2027, late quarterly updates earn penalty points from your very first deadline, 7 August 2027.
The points system works a bit like a driving licence. Each missed deadline adds one point. At four points, HMRC charges a £200 penalty, plus another £200 for every further missed deadline while you're at that level. Points expire after 24 months as long as you stay below four.
Four points sounds like plenty of slack. Then you remember that the first two deadlines land in the middle of wedding season and the run-up to Christmas parties.
This is general guidance based on my experience and research. It's not professional tax or financial advice. If your situation is complicated, speak to an accountant.
What changes once you're in?
Three things change: how you keep records, how often you report, and how you file at the end of the year.
Digital records
Every fee and every expense has to be recorded digitally, with its date, amount and category. A notebook won't do, and neither will a carrier bag of receipts. A spreadsheet is allowed, but only if it's linked to bridging software that sends the figures to HMRC. Retyping numbers from a spreadsheet into a filing tool by hand doesn't meet the rules.
Your mileage log is part of those records, logged at the right rate for each tax year: 45p a mile before 6 April 2026 and 55p after it, as set out in HMRC's mileage rates for 2026/27. If you invoice couples or venues directly, each numbered, dated invoice is already half the record. My guide on how to invoice as a freelance singer covers what needs to be on one.
Cash on the night counts exactly like a bank transfer. Log it the same evening. It's the easiest fee in the world to forget.
Quarterly updates
A quarterly update is a running total of your income and expenses for the tax year so far. It isn't a tax return, and it isn't a payment. If a figure is wrong, you put it right in the next update.
For the 2027/28 tax year, your first year in:
Quarter | Covers | Update due |
|---|---|---|
Q1 | 6 April to 5 July 2027 | 7 August 2027 |
Q2 | 6 July to 5 October 2027 | 7 November 2027 |
Q3 | 6 October 2027 to 5 January 2028 | 7 February 2028 |
Q4 | 6 January to 5 April 2028 | 7 May 2028 |
Put all four in your diary now, next to your gigs.
The final declaration
The annual return doesn't disappear. For 2027/28, you file a final declaration through your Making Tax Digital software by 31 January 2029, and that's where allowances, adjustments and income from outside your gigging get added.
Your 2026/27 return, due 31 January 2028, is still an ordinary Self Assessment return. You don't change how you file until the first year you're actually in.
What should you do before April 2027?
Start with the one thing that decides everything: your 2025/26 turnover.
Add up your 2025/26 fees before expenses. Include every agency, every direct booking and every cash gig, plus any rent you receive. Over £30,000 means you're in. You don't need to wait until you file to do this, and doing it now gives you months instead of weeks.
Don't wait for a letter. HMRC wrote to the first wave after reviewing their returns, but GOV.UK is clear that if no letter arrives, checking and signing up is still your responsibility.
Sign up before 6 April 2027. HMRC won't enrol you automatically. You sign up through GOV.UK, then authorise your software to connect. You need to be registered for Self Assessment as a sole trader first. If you've only recently started gigging, my guide to starting out as a self-employed singer walks through registering.
Decide how your updates will reach HMRC. That means software that submits directly, a spreadsheet with bridging software, or an accountant who submits for you.
Talk to your accountant this autumn. Some will do the quarterly updates for you. Others will want you to submit yourself and send them the records at year end. Better to find out in November than in July.
Start keeping digital records before you have to. A few months of practice means your first real quarter isn't also your first attempt.
The first step is the only one worth doing this week. Everything else follows from the answer.
Check where you stand in two minutes
Our free MTD calculator is built for performers. It asks for your gig fees before commission and expenses, adds any other self-employed work like teaching or session fees, and shows where you stand for this year and the years ahead. No sign-up needed.
How Gigflow helps with Making Tax Digital
Keeping every fee, expense and mile in software all year is the part of Making Tax Digital that takes the effort. It's also the part Gigflow is built for.
Every gig you log is a digital income record: the date, the fee and the agency, with each agency's commission rule set up once. Income is counted on the date the money reaches you, which is how HMRC counts it for most sole traders, and the tax screens tell you which basis they're using. Mileage is worked out from your home to the venue at the right HMRC rate for the date of the gig. Expenses are stored by category. Everything runs April to April.
The MTD dashboard shows each quarter's figures as the year goes on, and you can export a quarter ready for bridging software or your accountant.
What Gigflow doesn't do yet is submit to HMRC for you. That last step goes through bridging software or your accountant. I'd rather tell you that here than have you find out in August.
Frequently asked questions
Do musicians have to use Making Tax Digital from April 2027?
Yes, if your self-employed turnover plus any property income was over £30,000 in the 2025/26 tax year. The figure is measured before expenses, so a singer with £31,500 of fees and £19,000 of profit is still in. If you were under £30,000 in 2025/26 but over £20,000 in 2026/27, you join in April 2028.
Does a PAYE job count towards the Making Tax Digital threshold?
No. Only self-employment and property income count towards the threshold. A salary from a teaching job, or any other employment paid through PAYE, is left out. Private lessons you invoice for yourself are self-employed income, so those do count.
Is there a penalty-free first year for people joining in April 2027?
No. The easement announced at the Autumn Budget 2025 only covered people who joined in April 2026. If you join in April 2027, each late quarterly update earns a penalty point from your first deadline on 7 August 2027. Four points triggers a £200 penalty.
Will HMRC sign me up for Making Tax Digital automatically?
No. HMRC writes to people whose returns show they're over the threshold, but it won't enrol anyone. You sign up through GOV.UK and authorise your software to connect. If no letter arrives, checking and signing up is still your responsibility.
Can I still use a spreadsheet for Making Tax Digital?
Yes, as long as it's linked to bridging software that sends your figures to HMRC digitally. Copying numbers from a spreadsheet into a filing tool by hand isn't allowed, and a spreadsheet that never connects to anything doesn't meet the rules on its own.
Do cash payments at gigs count under Making Tax Digital?
Yes. Cash on the night is income like any other fee and has to be recorded digitally. Making Tax Digital changes how you record and report income, not what you declare. Log cash fees on the day, because they're the easiest ones to forget.
Do I still file a tax return once I'm in Making Tax Digital?
Yes. You file a final declaration through your software by 31 January after the tax year ends, which is 31 January 2029 for 2027/28. Your 2026/27 return, due 31 January 2028, is still an ordinary Self Assessment return.
Making Tax Digital for musicians stops being someone else's problem in April 2027. If your 2025/26 fees came to more than £30,000 before expenses, you're in, and this time there's no penalty-free year to learn on. Our guide to MTD quarterly updates walks through exactly what each submission contains.
Everything in Gigflow Pro is free for your first 30 days, with no card needed. Start keeping MTD-ready records.
