Self-employed carpenters and joiners — from kitchen fitters to bespoke furniture makers — need MTD-compatible records from April 2026 if earning over £50,000. Carpentry involves significant materials costs (timber, sheet goods, fixings) plus tool investment, making proper expense tracking especially valuable for reducing your tax bill..
Self-employed carpenters and joiners — from kitchen fitters to bespoke furniture makers — need MTD-compatible records from April 2026 if earning over £50,000. Carpentry involves significant materials costs (timber, sheet goods, fixings) plus tool investment, making proper expense tracking especially valuable for reducing your tax bill.
Sawdust, wood shavings, and workshop noise are not ideal conditions for accounting software. Carpenters need something they can update in the van between jobs or in the workshop during a glue-up.
Self-employed carpenters in Contractor Heanor (North West England) earn an estimated £34,000 per year on average — above the April 2027 threshold of £30,000. Tradespeople in Contractor Heanor often also cover Abbey Hey, Abram, Accrington and surrounding areas.
The North West has a large, competitive trades market. Manchester and Liverpool drive demand, with rates at or near the national average.
Tradespeople covering Greater Manchester, Merseyside, and Lancashire should track toll charges (Mersey tunnels, M6 toll) as deductible expenses.
With average earnings around the national median, many North West tradespeople will be caught by the £30,000 threshold from April 2027. Common deductible expenses for carpenters include: timber, fixings, adhesives, hand tools, power tools, van, workshop rent, insurance.
Your next quarterly deadline and how long you have to prepare.
Track every job from quote to payment. Kanban board. Drag and drop.
Create and send invoices in seconds. Looks professional. Gets you paid.
Snap receipt photos. Auto-categorise to HMRC categories. Never miss a deduction.
See your Q1–Q4 breakdown with HMRC SA103 categories. Deadline countdowns built in.
All your customers in one place. Call, WhatsApp, track job history.
Built for tradespeople, not accountants. Works from your van in 10 seconds.
| Feature | Graft | Xero | QuickBooks | FreeAgent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Monthly cost | Free / £3 Pro | From £15 | From £10 | £19* |
| Built for trades | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Job management | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ |
| HMRC categories | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Quarterly view | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Receipt scanner | ✓ (AI) | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Mobile-first | ✓ | Partial | Partial | Partial |
| Customer CRM | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ |
*FreeAgent is free with NatWest/RBS/Mettle business accounts. Otherwise £19/month.
timber, MDF, plywood, hardwood, fixings, screws, nails, wood glue, sandpaper, saw blades, router bits, hand tools, power tools, workshop rent, dust extraction, van costs, insurance
Graft auto-maps all of these to the correct HMRC SA103 categories: Cost of goods, Car/van/travel, Phone/office, Rent/rates/insurance, Advertising, and Other expenses.
If your qualifying income exceeds £50,000 from April 2026, yes. Kitchen fitting and bespoke joinery businesses frequently exceed this threshold.
Yes. Hand tools, power tools, and consumables (blades, bits, sandpaper) are allowable expenses. Graft maps these to "Cost of goods" in HMRC categories.
Workshop or unit rent is deductible under "Rent, rates, power & insurance" in the SA103 self-employment pages.
Log each timber purchase as an expense in Graft. It auto-categorises materials under "Cost of goods" for HMRC. Photo the receipt with the built-in scanner.
Yes. Free invoicing, quoting, expense tracking, job management, and HMRC-categorised quarterly views. Built for tradespeople, not accountants.
Join hundreds of tradespeople already using Graft. Free forever. No card needed.
Start Free Now