MTD Individual Tax Return - guide for completing self-employment sections

Article ID: 3464

Last updated: 20 Aug, 2026

Completing your Self-Employment pages

A guide to the Income, Expenses, Capital allowances, Losses and National Insurance screens

This article explains what to enter on each of the Self-Employment pages when completing your Self Assessment tax return under Making Tax Digital for Income Tax. Each section below matches one of the screens in the software. Please read MTD Individual Tax Return - how does the process work as compared to the SA100? for general information on completing and submitting.

After using the 'Fetch' function, figures already submitted through quarterly updates appear in the 'Data submitted per HMRC' column and can only be changed by adjusting and resubmitting that data. Use the 'Accounting adjustments' column to make one-off changes needed to arrive at the correct year-end figure — for example, where your final accounts differ slightly from the totals submitted in-year.

The following columns appear throughout the self-employment screens:

Column guide

Field	What to enter
Amounts before disallowables (Applicable to disallowable expenses screen only)	The full amount spent in this category, including any element that isn't allowable for tax (e.g. private use of a vehicle, or entertainment costs).
Data submitted per HMRC	The cumulative total already submitted via quarterly updates for this business. This populates automatically once the business is linked to an HMRC business record.
Accounting adjustments	Any adjustment needed to move from the amount submitted in-year to the correct final figure for the year — for example, corrections identified once your accounts are finalised. These are calculated automatically if accounts have been imported from TaxCalc Accounts Production, or can be entered manually.
Final values	The total for the year after accounting adjustments have been applied (Data submitted per HMRC + Accounting adjustments).
Net allowable amounts	The amount that is actually deductible for tax once any disallowable element has been removed from the final value. This is the figure used in the tax calculation.

Income

Use this screen to display income data already submitted to HMRC and enter any accounting adjustments to be made for the tax year.

Field	What to enter
Turnover	The total sales or fees earned by the business before any expenses are deducted. If you're VAT registered, enter turnover net of VAT.
Other income	Any other business income that isn't turnover — for example, insurance proceeds, or income that doesn't relate to your normal trading activity.
Tax taken off trading income	Tax already deducted from your trading income (excluding Construction Industry Scheme deductions, which are recorded separately on the CIS deductions screen). This figure comes from data submitted to HMRC and can't be changed here — if it needs correcting, you'll need to resubmit the relevant quarterly update.
Trading income allowance (up to £1,000)	A flat allowance you can claim instead of deducting actual expenses. If you claim this allowance, you cannot also deduct expenses or claim capital allowances for this business.

Expenses and disallowable expenses

Use these screens to display expense data already submitted to HMRC and record any necessary adjustments.:

• Expenses — after using the 'Fetch function, this screen displays the expense data submitted to HMRC, allows for any accounting adjustments to be entered, and calculates the final value for each category, before deducting disallowables (if applicable)

• Disallowable expenses — displays 'Amounts before disallowables', which is the final expense valuefrom the Expenses screen, before removing any private or non-business element, and the data submitted to HMRC for disallowable expenses. After the entry of any accounting adjustments, he resulting 'Net allowable amounts' (the figure actually deductible for tax once disallowable amounts have been taken out) is calculated.

Expense categories

Field	What to enter
Cost of goods	The direct cost of goods bought for resale, or materials used in providing your service (also called 'cost of sales').
Payments to subcontractors	Amounts paid to subcontractors for construction or other work done on behalf of the business.
Wages and staff costs	Salaries, wages, employer's National Insurance, pensions and other staff-related costs (not your own drawings).
Car, van and travel expenses	Vehicle running costs, fuel, insurance, and travel costs incurred wholly for business purposes.
Premises running costs	Rent, rates, utilities, insurance and similar costs for business premises, including a reasonable proportion for home working.
Maintenance costs	Repairs and maintenance of business premises and equipment (not improvements — see Capital allowances).
Admin costs	Phone, postage, stationery, software subscriptions and other administrative expenses.
Advertising costs	Advertising, marketing and website costs.
Business entertainment costs	Client and staff entertainment. This is always disallowable for tax, even though it's entered here.
Interest on bank and other loans	Interest paid on business loans and overdrafts (subject to any relevant restrictions).
Finance charges	Bank charges, credit card charges, hire purchase and leasing charges.
Irrecoverable debts	Bad debts written off that relate to amounts already included in business income.
Professional fees	Accountancy, legal and other professional fees (some legal costs, e.g. for capital items, are disallowable).
Depreciation	Depreciation charged in the accounts. This is always disallowable for tax — relief for capital spending is instead given through Capital allowances.
Other expenses	Any other allowable business expenses not covered by the categories above.

Note: Business entertainment costs and depreciation are always fully disallowable for tax purposes, even though you record the amounts spent here.

Capital allowances

Capital allowances and balancing charges are the way tax relief is given for capital spending — for example, on equipment, vehicles or certain buildings — instead of deducting the cost as a normal expense.

Field	What to enter
Annual Investment Allowance (AIA)	Gives 100% relief in the year of purchase for qualifying plant and machinery, up to the annual limit.
Capital allowances at 18% on equipment, including cars with lower CO₂ emissions	Writing down allowance claimed on the 'main rate' pool — most equipment and lower-emission cars not qualifying for AIA or a higher rate.
Capital allowances at 6% on equipment, including cars with higher CO₂ emissions	Writing down allowance claimed on the 'special rate' pool — higher-emission cars, integral features, and long-life assets.
Zero-emission car allowance	100% first-year allowance for a new and unused car with zero CO₂ emissions.
Capital allowances claimed in single asset pools	Allowances for assets kept in their own separate pool rather than the main pools — typically because they have significant non-business use, or to track the disposal value separately.
The Structures and Buildings Allowance (SBA)	Relief for the cost of constructing or renovating non-residential structures and buildings, given at a flat annual rate. Note: Not available to enter until TaxCalc Phase 2 (October)
Freeport and Investment Zones Structures and Buildings Allowance	An enhanced rate of SBA available for qualifying structures and buildings within a Freeport or Investment Zone tax site. Note: Not available to enter until TaxCalc Phase 2 (October)
100% and other enhanced capital allowances	Other allowances giving full or enhanced relief in the year of purchase, such as for certain energy-saving or environmentally beneficial equipment.
Allowances on sale or cessation of business use	A balancing allowance arising when an asset is sold, or the business ceases, and the sale proceeds are less than the tax value remaining in the pool.
Balancing charges in respect of Business Premises Renovation Allowances (BPRA)	A charge that claws back relief previously given under BPRA, typically because the property has been sold or has stopped being used for a qualifying purpose.
Any other charges on sale or cessation of business use	A balancing charge arising when an asset is sold, or the business ceases, and the sale proceeds are more than the remaining tax value in the pool — this amount is added back as taxable income.

Losses

Use this screen to tell us about losses brought forward from earlier years, and how this year's result should be treated.

Losses brought forward

Field	What to enter
Losses brought forward from earlier years	The total unused loss carried forward from previous tax years, for income tax purposes and for Class 4 NIC purposes.
Losses brought forward from earlier years set against this year's spread of the transition profit	Any brought-forward loss being used to reduce transition profit being spread over multiple years (relevant where basis period reform transition profits apply).
Loss brought forward from earlier years set against this year's profit	The amount of brought-forward loss being set against this year's trading profit.

This year's loss

Field	What to enter
In 2025-26 you made an allowable loss of	The loss arising from this business for the current tax year, calculated automatically from your income and expenses.
Would you like to set off this loss against other income for 2025-26?	Choose Yes if you want to offset this year's loss against your other taxable income for the same year, rather than only carrying it forward.
Loss set off against other income (other trading income for the Class 4 NIC calculation) for 2025-26	The portion of this year's loss being set against other income, shown separately for the Class 4 NIC calculation.
Loss carried forward (including unused losses brought forward)	The remaining loss, including any unused amount brought forward, available to carry forward and use in a future year.

Note: Under Making Tax Digital, losses can't be carried back to an earlier year through the software for the year ended 5 April 2026 — you'd need to contact HMRC directly to opt out of Making Tax Digital to do this. The amount of loss offset against other income is calculated automatically by HMRC for this year and can't be overridden in the software.

National Insurance

Class 4 National Insurance

Field	What to enter
Are you exempted from paying Class 4 National Insurance on the profits of this business?	Tick Yes if an exemption applies — for example, if you are over State Pension age at the start of the tax year, or another recognised exemption applies.
If you are exempt from paying Class 4 National Insurance, select the reason for exemption from the list	Choose the specific reason for the exemption, such as 'Over state pension age', from the drop-down list.

Class 2 National Insurance

If your total profits from all self-employments and partnerships are below the small profit threshold, you don't have to pay Class 2 National Insurance, but you can choose to pay voluntarily to protect your entitlement to certain benefits (such as the State Pension). If your profits exceed the small profits threshold and you're registered as self-employed, your Class 2 contributions are treated as having been paid automatically.

Field	What to enter
Do you want to voluntarily pay Class 2 National Insurance?	Select Yes only if your profits are below the small profits threshold and you want to pay voluntarily to protect your benefit entitlement.