Freelancers with two trades: MTD is about to get… a bit ridiculous 😅

So you’re self-employed.
You’ve got your main thing… and then a side hustle.

Normal freelancer life, right?

Well, under Making Tax Digital (MTD), HMRC has basically looked at that and gone:

“Ah, yes. Two jobs. Let’s make that… twice the paperwork.” 🙃

Quick refresher: when does MTD kick in?

MTD for Income Tax is being rolled out based on your turnover (not profit - turnover, because of course).

• From April 2026 if you earn over £50k

• From April 2027 if you earn over £30k

• From April 2028 if you earn over £20k

So basically, most freelancers will end up here eventually.
(HMRC rollout dates)

The bit that catches people out: two trades = double updates

Here’s what HMRC wants:

📌 Quarterly updates every 3 months
And not just one…

It’s one set of quarterly updates per trade.
(Quarterly update rules)

So if you’ve got:

• Trade 1 = 4 updates a year

• Trade 2 = 4 updates a year

That’s…

✨ 8 submissions a year ✨

Because apparently freelancers were getting too bored.

Example: Mark (because there’s always a Mark)

Mark is a plumber. Busy guy.
He earns just over £50k fixing boilers and unblocking drains 🚿

But in the evenings, Mark also teaches art classes 🎨
And yep… that earns just over £50k too.

So Mark’s income is totally legitimate, totally normal…

But HMRC sees this and says:

“Great! Two separate self-employed trades.”

Which means Mark now has:

• 4 quarterly plumbing updates

• 4 quarterly art class updates

= 8 quarterly submissions

PLUS the end-of-year tax return.

Mark didn’t ask for this. Mark just wanted to teach watercolours.

And honestly… it feels a bit unfair?

HMRC says quarterly updates are meant to be “simple summaries”…

But let’s be real:

Most sole traders are already doing their best just to:

• run the business

• invoice people

• remember passwords

• find receipts from 4 months ago

• have a life

Adding 8 deadlines a year feels like a lot.

Especially when nothing about having two income streams means you suddenly have double the free time.

The takeaway (before we all scream)

If you’ve got more than one self-employed income stream:

✅ Get your bookkeeping separated early
✅ Keep an eye on the £50k / £30k thresholds
✅ Expect more admin under MTD
✅ Don’t leave it until the week before the first quarterly deadline

And if you’re in the “Mark” situation… you’re definitely not alone.