Only include shifts where you're genuinely self-employed. PAYE agency shifts, however they're described, don't count towards this threshold.
If you're a genuinely self-employed security guard, door supervisor or close protection operative, invoicing venues or clients directly for your services, Making Tax Digital applies to you the same way it applies to any sole trader. But this is one of the industries where it's genuinely worth checking your employment status carefully, since a lot of "self-employed" security work is arranged in a way that doesn't actually meet the legal test for self-employment.
Yes, if your gross genuinely self-employed income, plus any other self-employment or rental income, exceeds the relevant threshold:
| Tax Year Assessed | Threshold | MTD Start Date |
|---|---|---|
| 2024–25 | Over £50,000 | 6 April 2026. Live since April 2026 |
| 2025–26 | Over £30,000 | 6 April 2027 |
| 2026–27 | Over £20,000 | 6 April 2028 |
Your gross income is your total fees received before expenses, SIA licence costs, DBS checks, uniform and training are all deducted afterwards, not before, when checking your threshold.
If you're unsure which category you're actually in, HMRC's key questions are worth asking honestly: do you control your own hours and can you decline shifts freely, could you send someone else to cover a shift in your place, and do you provide your own equipment and bear your own financial risk. Genuine self-employment usually means "yes" to most of these, closely controlled agency work usually means "no".
It's common to combine genuinely self-employed direct client work (invoicing a venue or business directly for event or site security) with PAYE shifts through an agency. Only the genuinely self-employed portion counts towards your MTD threshold, the PAYE shifts are already taxed at source through the agency's payroll and are excluded entirely from this calculation.
| Expense Category | Examples |
|---|---|
| SIA licence | Application and renewal fees for your Security Industry Authority licence |
| DBS checks | Enhanced DBS check costs where required for a role |
| Uniform | Role-specific clothing not provided by a client or venue |
| Training | First aid, conflict management, and other required CPD courses |
| Travel | Mileage between venues, at the current HMRC rate |
Kofi's agency shifts are already taxed at source through PAYE and excluded entirely. His £19,500 of genuinely self-employed direct contracts sits just below the £20,000 Phase 3 threshold, so no MTD obligation applies to him under current legislation, though this is worth rechecking each year as his direct client work grows.
Only if they're genuinely self-employed. If an agency employs you on a PAYE basis and deducts tax and National Insurance before paying you, that's employment income and doesn't count towards your MTD threshold, regardless of how the work itself is described.
The same as any self-employed sole trader: over £50,000 genuinely self-employed gross income in 2024–25 means MTD from April 2026, over £30,000 in 2025–26 means April 2027, over £20,000 in 2026–27 means April 2028.
Key indicators include whether you control your own hours and can decline shifts, whether you could send a substitute to cover for you, and whether you provide your own equipment. If an agency closely controls your rota, uniform and site with no ability to substitute, you may be an employee regardless of your contract's wording.
Yes, SIA licence application and renewal fees, along with DBS checks, uniform and required training, are all standard allowable expenses for genuinely self-employed security work.
Being correctly classified affects your entitlement to holiday pay, sick pay, and workplace pension auto-enrolment, not just your tax treatment. It's worth getting right for reasons well beyond Making Tax Digital.
Any HMRC-recognised MTD software works. The main practical need is clearly separating genuinely self-employed income from any agency PAYE shifts, which is a simple categorisation task in any standard software.
Our free calculator checks your exact threshold, deadlines, and recommends the easiest software for your record-keeping.
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